Social Activity refers the sharing of information about research outputs on social media. Social media is great for extending your connections beyond your usual or known research network, particularly people and non-academic groups who are interested in the topic of your research.
Ideally, social activity about your research will also extend beyond your direct involvement. With effective engagement, others may talk about your research in their discussions e.g. after they heard about in on a Mass Media channel.
There are many more social activity tools than those listed on this page. Here we explain some tools that are commonly used across all disciplines. JCU is on social media, using these and other tools.
Tools described on the Scholarly Commentary page (e.g. blogging or sharing videos) can also be considered Social Activity if they are used for social rather than scholarly purposes.
In selecting a tool, choose ones that fit with what you want to achieve for your current research project, career stage, personality, etc. Over time, it is also likely that you'll stop using some tools and take up others. Before you get started, read the Important Considerations on the last page of this LibGuide.
Twitter is a microblog. Microblogs are very small blog posts and are usually limited in number of characters e.g. 280 characters for Twitter. Microblogs can include small amounts of text or an image, or provide links to videos or other web pages. Use them for promoting new research or directing people to other pages, such as blogs. Tumblr is another example of a microblog.
Facebook is a well known social networking tool that is useful for creating communities of people with similar interests, facilitating the sharing of ideas and information. Some lecturers use Facebook for communicating with their students. These communities can build over time if students remain part of the Facebook group after they graduate, enabling lecturers to keep in touch with past students and creating connections between past and current students.
Instagram is an image sharing tool, particularly for sharing photos and videos from a smartphone. When you post a photo or video on Instagram, it will be displayed on your Instagram profile and can easily be reposted post to your other social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook.
LinkedIn is a professional networking site, providing opportunities for sharing news about your career progression and about your research to industry groups and workplaces. LinkedIn is particularly useful for creating connections with industry and other non-academic groups. LinkedIn and other professional networking tools also provide job boards, space to upload resumes, share publications and to ask and answer questions. Here are 20 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2023.
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