Social media enable the people all around the world to have
access to endless information, entertainment, news and many other subject
matters. The use of social media has increased up to 65% by the year 2015. This
has increasingly become important in academic community. Social media has
turned to an essential means for the promotion of researches. Obviously this
platform provides new outlet for the publication of researches and related
data. Still there are some debates over its effect on the increase of research
citations. In the present article we are to discuss the use of social media for
the promotion of researches.
Social
Media Platforms
When
talking about social media, people often think of selfie, pictures of their
holiday or food. Therefore, it is no wonder why researchers do not use social
media to promote their studies. Still, this is a wrong view of social media and
if researchers use the full potential of these platforms, they may change their
view of social media and academic works.
Twitter: You
can immediately link and present the most recent studies, conferences, blogs
and other items.
LinkedIn:
You can use this professional platform to share the latest updated of your
profession in a particular group or for wider range of audiences. Also you can
create links related to your job.
Blogs:
There are so many blogging platforms through which you can share your
researches and articles. The readers can give their comments about your job and
engage in a discussion.
Facebook: Offers a variety
of ways for adverting researches and links to other journals and social media.
Mendeley: Helps you to
develop your network by joining in your interested subject matter. Researches
can engage with any one regarding their work.
ResearchGate: Is a social
media platform in which researchers can share and discuss a wide range of
research subjects. ResearchGate is used for the promotion of cooperation in
academic community.
Comparing studies
All the studies show that
social media enables people to easily communicate with each other. Still there
are discussions about the efficacy of using social media for research promotion.
Three important points should be reminded:
- Researchers upload their
articles in academic websites, social networks (such as Mendeley, ResearchGate,
Academia.edu, etc.) rather than websites run by institutions and universities. - Academic websites, social
networks and social media have positive impact on the impact factor, the number
of citations and search rankings. - Social media increases
interactions with other researchers in academic society.
Recently some studies have been conducted on the impact of social
media on researches. Depending on the academic field of study, the results can
be different. Undoubtedly twitter provides an available and efficient platform
for scientists to communicate easily. The use of social media for
promotion of research in academic society is more popular than in other fields
of study such as humanities.
Social media drawbacks
Generally, there are some issues in using social media, including
privacy infringement, advertisements and hacking. The same is true about the
academic society. One example is finding extra and irrelevant information. This can cause problems in finding authentic
information.
Other criticisms include the following:
- Some believe that social
media weaken the quality of academic discussion by sharing it in nonacademic world. - Free discussion in social
media can negatively influence the course of peer-review. It is difficult to
recognize the credible opinions and participants in social media platforms.
These drawbacks, though dangerous are surmountable. It takes some
discipline on the researcher’s part, as well as a focus on their priorities and
schedule. The use of social media for the promotion of their work is
complementary to their professional life.
Improving
social media experience
The academic research is essential for variety of reasons.
Therefore, researchers and institutions have to do their best for the spread
and promotion of knowledge. The freelance researchers use academic works to
increase their visibility and reputation, both are connected to the increase of
citation.
Most journals work for the promotion of the articles they publish.
Nevertheless, it is the researchers who are in the best position to promote
their work. This is applicable in all stages of research. In pre-publish stage,
they can do research in journals with high Impact Factor and open access.
Finally, in the next stage they can promote the article to larger audience.