Foremost amongst the guidance offered about Twitter is the claim that it is fundamentally a conversational platform. One shouldn’t simply ‘broadcast’. It’s for discussion and engagement. There’s an element of truth in this but it’s one which can be lost… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘twitter’
Social Media and Academic Labour
It is increasingly hard to move without encountering the idea that social media is something of value for academics. The reasons offered are probably quite familiar by now. It helps ensure your research is visible, both inside and outside the… Read More ›
The idiocy of corporations on Twitter
A lovely feature by John Oliver about the idiocy of corporations on Twitter: For a deeper analysis of corporations on Twitter, see this great essay on weird corporate twitter: We all know that a corporation’s Twitter account is managed by a social-media worker (despite… Read More ›
“Liking” it on Facebook
by Javier de Rivera The “Like” is one of the most common and successful features on social networking sites. It was the hallmark of Facebook from the beginning, it is the main form of social interaction on Instagram, and Twitter has… Read More ›
Who’s more popular on twitter? the UK’s top research universities or academic blogs and viral feeds?
Comparing the follower counts for Twitter feeds based on the 2014 REF results (i.e. I mean ‘top’ in a very narrow sense) and an unsystematically chosen selection of the Twitter feeds I’ve been scrutinising this morning as I finish off the book. Oxford University: 231,000 Cambridge… Read More ›
How many twitter followers does it take to run for President?
How many twitter followers does it take to run for President? This interesting feature on the National Journal shows how the once marginal role of social media in election campaigns has become hugely prominent: Democrats Hillary Clinton: 883,292 Facebook likes,… Read More ›
How to live tweet effectively at academic conferences
This useful post on the Pickle Jar blog offers some pointers about effective live tweeting. I agree it’s important to remember that most (?) people reading your live tweets won’t be in the room with you and thus will be confused by any features… Read More ›
Is human culture collapsing under the weight of its own verbiage?
I just quoted this article from Charlie Brooker in the section of Social Media for Academics about ‘how to ensure you’re not wasting your time when you should be doing real work’. I’ve begun to feel like this about social… Read More ›
Using social media to improve the student experience: creating a departmental back channel for undergraduates
A few years ago when I was running the Twitter feed for the Sociology department at Warwick, I noticed how readily first year undergraduates tweeted practical questions to the account during their first few weeks of the first term. Students… Read More ›
“Every white girl’s father’s worse nightmare or nah?”
School students at Book T Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia (USA) walked out of school in protest after nothing was done when they reported a racist retweet by a staff member at the school. Read more at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/black-students-walk-out-over-school-officials-tweet-every-white-girls-fathers-worse-nightmare/… Read More ›
“I have no idea what to tweet about!”
Are you a social researcher who feels this way? Here are some ideas which might help: Have you read any interesting papers recently? Link to them and briefly explain why you liked them. Are you going to any conferences soon? Tweet that you’re… Read More ›
Resonance and subjectivity on twitter
In four years of using Twitter regularly, I’ve often found others tweeting things that resonate with me and vice versa. In fact one could plausibly suggest that these experiences play an important role in making continued use of the service appealing. What… Read More ›
How not to use twitter as an academic
I usually tend towards the view that there’s no right or wrong way to use social media. These evaluations only make sense relative to some prior purpose and so I’m sceptical when blog posts pronounce on the right way to use Twitter or parallel claims with… Read More ›
An introduction to blogging and twitter for social researchers
Given the increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact of social research, it is inevitable that researchers are looking towards the opportunities offered by social media. This one day course offers an accessible introduction to the use of blogging and twitter,… Read More ›
Richard Dawkins, Twitter and the dangers of thinking aloud Edit
There’s a great Brendan O’Neill post on Telegraph blogs* in which he reflects on the self-destruction of Richard Dawkins** online and its roots in the nature of Twitter as a medium. He’s probably correct that, with the exception of a cadre… Read More ›
The pedagogical value of Twitter: enhancing the collective identity of independent learners
Last year I taught on a newly designed module in my School and was struck by the value of Twitter as a learning resource and teaching tool. ‘Current Issues in Society’ is a first year undergraduate module that has deviated… Read More ›
3 tips for managing institutional, project and group twitter feeds in #HigherEd
In the last few years I’ve jointly or solely managed a whole range of twitter feeds – including @sociowarwick, @bsatheory, @bsapgform, @bsadigitalsoc, @lsepoliticsblog, @bsarealism, @digital_change, @soc_imagination, @asexstudies, @dis_of_dissent, @warwicksocsci and probably some others that I’ve forgotten about. Along the way I’ve… Read More ›
Can academics manage without Twitter?
Following David Hill’s post about joining Twitter, I’ve been thinking again about joining Twitter. A few months I posted about Twitter. In that post I spoke about my concerns of constant connection and the work it seemed to require, amongst other things. I’m not… Read More ›
“Why do you find Twitter useful as an academic?” (part 2)
The original version of this post got an interesting comment yesterday. We hope the author won’t mind us reposting the comment as a new post. It was a quick content analysis of the answers in the original post. So… why do you… Read More ›
“Why do you find Twitter useful as an academic?”
This was the question I asked earlier this morning on Twitter. I was preparing a workshop on twitter for academics and was a little nervous about my content. The basic point of the workshop was to convince participants about the value of… Read More ›
Nine resources for academics getting started with Twitter
Register for Twitter and find researchers to follow Engage with your network on Twitter “Why do you find Twitter useful as an academic?” The LSE’s list of academic twitter users Support, engagement, visibility and personalised news: Twitter has a lot to… Read More ›
Advice on introducing Twitter to academics
Twitter has a definite image problem. It first penetrated the public consciousness in a way which has left it defined by celebrities and, particularly for academics, this is unattractive. If you want to persuade academics to use it, it’s important… Read More ›
Twitter for academics
What’s the point of Twitter? Twitter has an image problem. It first penetrated the public consciousness in a way which has left it defined by celebrities and, particularly for academics, this is unattractive. However the academic twittersphere (for lack of a better… Read More ›
On Visually-Mediated Professional Lives
If you currently live in the United States, or are one of The Daily Show‘s horde of global fans, you have surely heard about the latest sex scandal involving New York Congressional Representative Anthony Weiner. If, though, you do not… Read More ›