Just Keep Tweeting!           

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Jacqueline Kent-Marvick

PhD Student, College of Nursing

University of Utah 

#What’s the Twitter 411? 

 

Those of us who are old enough to remember a time without internet in our schools and homes can especially appreciate how life in general has made a major paradigm shift toward online engagement.  This has had dramatic effects on academic research dissemination and networking, pushing us increasingly toward a comprehensive online scholarly environment. Instead of manual research using library card catalogues, microfiche and physical media, we have “a broken water main, one spewing information instead of water.” Yes, that was a Stephen King quote, and let it be a subtle reminder that a little caution while you’re online will save you – but we’ll get to that later… For the most part, though, we’ve adapted well to life in the (internet) information age, but we haven’t yet arrived at our final destination — our online activities are continuously evolving. We’ve seen major platforms dominate and then fade. We’ve seen popularity shift from author-driven blogs and vlog sites, to more user-engaged platforms like Twitter.

With increasing frequency Twitter is being used by researchers to promote their programs of research and gain visibility by engaging with other scientists, practitioners, policy makers and the public. I’ll be walking you through the Twitter basics, but if you’d like to be sold on why Twitter is the platform for you, here is an excellent 30-minute webinar created by USC Keck School of Medicine Professor Katja Reuter.

First, let’s get a better understanding why academics increasingly favor Twitter for online engagement. Twitter is an easy-to-use, one-stop shop for information that is tailored to your interests. As you cultivate the list of people you follow, you’ll have a convenient place to learn about hot-off-the-press and pre-print publications from your colleagues and the movers and shakers in your field. You will be able to learn about policy changes related to your areas of interest, as well as new grant and job opportunities. And, it’s not only a place to stay abreast of the latest and greatest and to promote your own research; it’s also a place to engage in scientific conversations with experts in the field, providing networking opportunities that we wouldn’t otherwise have.

If you’re still not sold, consider that Ortega (2016) found that the papers of Twitter users are tweeted 33% more often than those of non-Twitter users. Additionally, Eysenbach (2012) followed articles that were published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, and he found that articles tweeted about frequently in the initial days following publication were 11 times more likely to be highly cited 17 to 29 months later than articles that weren’t frequently tweeted about. He also found that top-cited articles could be predicted quite accurately from their early tweeting frequency.

How exactly are researchers using Twitter? In 2014, the journal Nature solicited and received responses from more than 3500 researchers from 95 countries to learn about their online professional engagement. The conclusion? Researchers frequently use Twitter for things like following and contributing to discussions, commenting on research, sharing links to and posting their work, and engaging with their peers. Twitter promotes active engagement, making it a rewarding platform for getting involved and generating excitement around your own area of interest. In fact, Nature has two top recommendations for new Twitter users:

1.    In order to find new people to follow, and, potentially new people to follow you, glance through the list of Twitter users that the people you follow follow; and

2.    make it a habit to try to cultivate meaningful and mutually beneficial Twitter exchanges

I Have a Twitter Account, Now What?

Okay, so you’ve created a Twitter account. You’ve uploaded a bio photo and a banner photo that you can live with. You’ve made an attempt at your 160-character-or-less bio. You’re following some people in your field. You’ve launched some Tweets, but you’re still feeling a little Twitter-awkward (Tw-awkward?). Now what?

The best advice I can give you, is to just keep Tweeting!

Beyond Twitter 1010?

The Twitter best-of-the-best are not afraid of trial and error. Learn from them… Literally. Find someone you think does a great job on Twitter, and then try some of their techniques. See what works for you and what doesn’t. But — here’s that cautionary reminder — Twitter doesn’t have an edit button (yet), so be sure to read and re-read before you push the Tweet button.

Get involved and remember to be you. It’s okay to let your personality shine through. Most academics are on Twitter to engage in discussions. So, try it out. You could start by asking the Twitterverse a question that you’re genuinely interested in. Something like, “Hey PhD students and PhDs, I’m trying to survive regression methods in biostatistics. What helped you?” Remember to add a hashtag or two so that a broader audience than just your followers will see it. #statistics #survivingstats. Check out The Healthcare Hashtag Project to help you find hashtags related to your area of interest.

If you’re struggling to keep your message within the 280-character Tweet constraint:

·         try using Twitter Abbreviations. FWIW, I HTH!

·          When you’re sharing a weblink, a link shortener like bitly can be helpful to save those sacred characters by trimming web-addresses down to a third or even a half of the original length.

·         And, remember the old adage that a picture is worth 1000 words? Well, on Twitter, Tweets with video get 10x the engagement. Click here to learn how to add a photo or a gif to a Tweet.

·         Or, if you still need more characters, try creating a Tweet message thread. Click here to learn how.

Thanks for reading! Remember to just keep tweeting and you’ll find what works for you.

References

Eysenbach, G. (2012). Can Tweets predict citations? Metrics of social impact based on Twitter and correlation with traditional metrics of scientific impact. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14(1), 1-17.

Heemstra, J. M. (2020, January 10). A scientist’s guide to social media. ACS Central Science. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.9b01273

Leeming, J. (2017, August, 23). Social media as a scientist: A very quick guide. Naturejobs. http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2017/08/23/social-media-as-a-scientist-a-very-quick-guide/

Nature Methods. (2020, June 4). Tweet, tweet. Nature. Retrieved June 28, 2020, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-020-0860-6#citeas

Ortega,  J. L. (2016). To be or not to be on Twitter, and its relationship with the tweeting and citation of research papers.  Scientometrics.  DOI://10.1007/s11192-016-2133-0.

Raval, K. (2019, July 23). Top Twitter abbreviations you need to know. AutoMonkey. https://automonkey.co/top-twitter-abbreviations-you-need-to-know/

Reuter, K. (2018). Disseminating scientific research via Twitter: Practical insights and research evidence [Webinar]. Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. https://sc-ctsi.org/training-education/courses/disseminating-scientific-research-via-twitter-practical-insights-and-research-evidence

Images:

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