Making Sense of Social Media for Scholars and Academics
We’ve all been told or heard this: “get on social media!” Okay…so, do I just get on?! Then what?
I know… the advice is often not helpful. As scholars both within and outside of academia, social media seems hard to wrap our heads around. It feels more like a diversion rather than something that can serve a purpose for us.
One way I figured it out is to ask myself a simple some simple question: What is the purpose of Facebook? Or, if that’s not your preferred platform: what is the purpose of LinkedIn? What is the purpose of Twitter? Before jumping on, we need to ask ourselves this important question because these platforms speak to different audiences and have their own emphases.
I’ve been on Facebook since way back in 2008, LinkedIn since 2010, and Twitter since 2015. That adds up to quite a few years. During that time, I’ve been trying different ways to utilize each platform and maximize their purpose in my personal and professional life. This summer, now in 2021, I think I have found it. I think I cracked the code!
I know it sounds a little melodramatic, but it was important for me to figure out a purpose for each social media platform. If I am going to be spending sometime up to 8 hours (yikes!) a day on social media, I don’t want it to be a waste of my precious time.
In reflecting on my time on social media, and the types of interactions I’ve had on each major platform, I’ve come to some important conclusions about each platform:
Facebook is where I find and create community through affinity groups. They are a way of finding your tribe and people who have the same interests as you. For scholars, they are places where you can co-create new knowledge or contribute to the group knowledge with your own expertise.
Some affinity groups can be hobby-based, like cooking, gardening, painting, but they can also be professional. For scholars and in my case, these are specialty groups for educators, curriculum specialist, scientists. I’ve also created my own groups that blend some of my own interest with professional interests, for example, education and entrepreneurship.
In short, the real value of Facebook for scholars is through its affinity groups. They ensure that what appears on your feed is relevant to you. Sure, there will still be content that your friends post that is not as relevant for your professional goals, but that can be tailored to your preferences in settings.
LinkedIn is a difficult sell to people who view social media as primarily for social interactions. It’s boring, is usually the first response, especially for younger members. Others just wonder why they even need linked in. Scholars aren’t focused on finding work all the time, so they fail to see the power this platform.
However, Linked In is where I bring my community connections closer to my professional world. The groups I join on LinkedIn are also affinity groups, but they are based on my professional accomplishments or aspirations. One way to think of it in contrast to Facebook, is that you don’t have to work so hard to keep them professional.
For example, I am part of alumni groups for each of the colleges or universities I’ve graduated from. I also follow colleges and university groups where I work as an academic. The posts there are more focused on professional and industry issues. In my case they often involve issues or developments in post-secondary education.
The value of LinkedIn is that what I post there is automatically expected to be more specific to my profession, in my case scholars. More importantly, because of its professionalism, there is a sense that what I post actually contributes to the important discussions in my industry. Scholars often struggle to be heard for their expertise, and LinkedIn provides a convenient and quick way to be heard professionally.
The tweeting bird metaphor is truly appropriate for twitter. By this, I do not mean that tweets are unimportant, but they are meant for immediate attention. They are not meant to remain on a profile for long periods of time.
For me, Twitter is where I share informed opinions about current events of the day. I do my best to “stay in my lane” so to speak and not react, but rather respond to current issues and discussions.
As a simple example, Twitter is perfect for sharing updates about a current event or conference I may be attending. For scholars, this is the value of Twitter: to read about what is happening in the world right now. Sure, anyone can search through your older tweets, but that is very rare. It really is for current events and trending topics.
Other Social Media Platforms
No discussion about social media is complete without the inevitable “but what about ______?” After Facebook and Twitter, people usually ask about Instagram, often well before they ask about LinkedIn – an unfortunate reality. So, what about Instagram?
Many scholars include Instagram as part of their social media ecosystem. Truth-be-told, I have yet to figure out its purpose in my own social media arsenal. What I do know is that it’s owned by Facebook and so I wonder if it’s that different in purpose. What I also know is that it caters to a much younger audience – almost as if Facebook realized that its original platform was not meeting the need of younger people and rather than lose them, they purchased the competition.
Many scholars find that younger people are also an audience they are trying to reach. If so, then I won’t argue against the platform. That said, it’s also important not to spread your attention across too many platforms. This risks not being able to give each platform the attention it should receive.
Don’t spread yourself too thin – it is better to be well represented on 1-2 platforms than to be weakly represented across 5-6 platforms. I have noticed that many scholars do not make effective use of Instagram, and I believe it is because like any other platform, it requires a considerable investment in time, something scholars don’t always have left.
I believe that for scholars, the same can be said for all the other social media platforms: use it if your intended audience is there but be prepared to give it enough attention.
Specialized Social Media Platforms
There are many of these, so I can’t go into all of them, but let me delve deeper into one of them as an example. Clubhouse has been gaining traction with many scholars and there has been quite a bit of chatter about it in academic groups online. It piqued my interest enough that I took the leap and created a profile. From their website, Club House is
“a place for casual drop-in audio chats. When you open the app, you can see ‘rooms’ full of people talking and explore different conversations. It’s place to meet with friend and new people around the world – to tell stories, ask questions, debate, learn, and have impromptu conversations on thousands of different topics.”
Joining the platform is fairly straight-forward. Community Guidelines put the onus on the users to moderate the content themselves. There is also a clear process to report incidents that invariable occur.
What is peculiar is that you need an invitation from an existing member to participate in the conversations. Fortunately, one of my colleagues sent me one. New members then receive a small number of invitations to send to others when signing up.
Once logged on, you choose which conversations you enter. Those who create the spaces for conversations then decide if you will be allowed into the virtual room and participate. The platform is similar to professional organizations, both academic and non-academic.
In that way, it is a familiar interactive space with familiar rules of engagement. It has a bit of a peer-review feel to it in how there is a bit of a vetting process due to the self-moderated nature of each group. Each one determines the topic, what is discussed, and who can participate.
Honestly, I don’t completely understand the appeal of Clubhouse. I’m sure for some it is a great way to hold conversations and connect with their communities, but I’ll pass on this one. Please check it out for yourself and see if it can serve a purpose in your social media ecosystem.
Conclusion
Getting on social media is not a requirement, but it can be useful. It can help you connect across interests and geographic locations. It can expand your community and diversify your tribe. It can keep you informed and help you inform important conversations. It can serve a purpose beyond just distraction, but you must set the parameters.
Specialized platforms also have their niche purpose, but they are not for everyone. As scholars, we need to be judicious about how we use our online time. I’m sure that this is true for all professions, but scholars are often expected to use online platforms for many other aspects of their work, so adding social media is almost an expectation.
Students have their favorites as well, but their platform should not dictate what you should use as an academic. Instead, you should look for platforms that meet your purpose for research, knowledge, and teaching.
With any social media platform, always remember to ask: what is the purpose?