Social Media For Academics

Social media is an integral part of society and is increasingly used to disseminate research findings, and even carry out research. Social media offers opportunities for researchers to connect with the public, other researchers and potential funding bodies, promoting discussions and enhancing the reach of research.

In this half day interactive workshop, participants will explore the range of motivations and benefits for using Twitter to promote academic research and engage the public.

Through group activities, participants will test their Twitter skills, learning the most effective uses of Twitter. Talks from members of the University of Sussex who are experts in using social media will provide participants with ideas and solutions to their own social media questions.

Following this workshops participants will:

• Have knowledge of what constitutes ‘social media’ and the stakeholders that researchers might engage with.
• Have explored the range of motivations and benefits of social media from different perspectives.
• Be confident in the use of twitter to promote research and engage people.
• Be able to plan effective tweets for a range of public audiences.
• Know how to evaluate and demonstrate the success and impact of a social media interaction.
• Be aware of the local resources and opportunities available to support Sussex researchers online.

This course is kindly supported by the Doctoral School¹s Researcher-Led Initiative (RLI) Fund.