Are researchers using social media professionally? A comparative survey among fields, levels of career and universities
Germana Barata, State University of Campinas & Simon Fraser University Juan Pablo Alperin, SFU Ronaldo de Araújo, Federal University of Alagoas Críspulo Travieso Rodríguez, University of Salamanca
SOCIAL MEDIA RELEVANCE • Benefits to scholars: visibility, public engagement, influence, communication speed, sharing information, networking, among others (YEO, 2015). • Frequent contact with media = more academically active. Presence on social media interferes positively in the impact of their work (LIANG et al. 2014). • Altmetrics: measure societal impact of science (tracks how people share scientific documents on different media, platforms)
OTHER SURVEYS • 587 scientists surveyed from different fields still don’t use social media widely for professional purposes, although perceived as relevant (COLLIN et al., 2016). 3 most used social media: Twitter (88%), Facebook (82%) and LinkedIn (66%) • 3,500 scholars from ResearchGate media from 95 countries Noorden (2014) use mostly ResearchGate; LinkedIn; Facebook; Google+ and Twitter • Post-Secondary students use social media on a daily basis
AIMS • How do academics use social media? • Which social media is being used professionally? • Participants: State University of Campinas Simon Fraser University Federal University of Alagoas University of Salamanca
PROCEDURES • 7,356 population of scholars (Professors and researchers) • UNICAMP(2,383); USAL (2,257); UFAL; (1,759); SFU (965); • Survey FluidSurveys: • Invitation by email 2 times • Period 51 days: Oct 10, 2017 to Nov 31, 2017 • Ethics approval
RESULTS • 755 respondents (10.3%) / 650 complete surveys 50.3%
49.7%
AGE
HUMANITIES 44.2%
42.0%
21-30 y.o. = 9.5%
HARD SCIENCES 27.5%
37.0%
31-40 y.o. =26.6%
LIFE SCIENCES 22.1%
12.5%
OTHERS 6.2%
41-50 y.o. = 26.5%
8.4%
51-60 y.o. = 25.8% 61-70 y.o. = 9.5% 71 or older = 1.1%
Choose up to 5 social media you mostly use for academic purpose
23.5% offer access to social media
Top 5 social media use by field
Top 5 reasons to use Facebook / Twitter academically
37.3% offer info on their profile
29.2% opened acocunt 2010 or before 57.1% have 1-100 followers 37.2% (1-50) 12.1% have +500 followers
76.2% offer info on their profile
52.2% opened acocunt 2010 or before 20.4% have 1-100 followers 41.9% (101500) 38% have +500 followers
Have you had contact with the media in the past 12 months?
47%
33%
25% 24%
LIFE SCIENCES 44% HARD SCIENCES 37%
44%
37%
Do you write for a blog?
HUMANITIES 30% OTHERS 27%
11.7%
Conclusions • Professional use of social media varies • Facebook; WhatsApp and Google+ can be a great way to get in touch with scholars in efforts
to communicate science • Be aware of social media use specificities in different fields, universities/country • Top reasons to use Twitter are more academic • Top reasons to use Facebook are communicating with media, public, students but also peers • Periodic surveys may increase potential to communicate science through scholars • Scholars from Humanities although seams more engaged with social media were less likely
to be contacted by media in the past year
Thank you!
Germana Barata, email:
[email protected]; @germanabarata Juan Pablo Alperin, SFU Ronaldo de Araújo, Federal University of Alagoas Críspulo Travieso Rodriguez, University of Salamanca
Top reasons to use Facebook by answers “don’t use it professionally by field General public / media
c
76.2% offer access on their profile
Top reasons to use Facebook by answers “don’t use it professionally by gender General public / media
