Discussion Session: Social Media
Visitor and Resident Mapping activity
A few resources and posts
- Find your community on Twitter, Fedua Research Impact Blog, University of Newcastle, Australia, March 9, 2016
- How I use Twitter as an Academic, Heather Froehlich, October 20, 2017
- Make LinkedIn work for your Research, Fedua Research Impact Blog, University of Newcastle, Australia, March 8, 2016
Some tips/Things to remember
- You don’t have to read everything – dip a toe in and then move on! You’ll never read everything.
- Focus on the people who you resonate with – don’t worry about the larger ecosystem, post what you love and engage with those who show interest.
- Don’t be reactive and don’t “feed the trolls.” If you need to hit mute/block or take a break that’s OK.
- It’s ok to create/tweet when you want. You don’t have to do it with a specific regularity.
- Be aware that everything you say is public and could be screenshotted (regardless of platform)
Twitter tips
- Be yourself.
- Tweetdeck might be of interest
- Lists
- You can block people and you can mute hashtags and people.
- Tweet about and retweet things you like and support colleagues and students. Share your own things as you like.
- Have a profile picture. It doesn’t have to be a photo of you.
What to do if your post or work goes viral?
- Because of something positive
- Retweet/repost the positive mentions – it’s OK to spread that positivity (it’s NOT bragging)
- It’s OK to repeat posts a few times by quote tweeting and adding a short comment or just retweeting
- Get the community involved – get colleagues to retweet/post positive mentions
- Let university PR (or your College PR) know, they may want to do a press release or article
- Because of something negative
- Don’t be reactive. Do not engage.
- The Streisand Effect – arguing and taking further action can draw more attention to the situation. It might be best to take a break and move on.
- Take a break and leave (Twitter, etc) for a while.
- If you made a mistake or were in the wrong: don’t try to defend yourself. Own that you make a mistake. Apologize. Move on.
- You’re not powerless in the face of online harassment, Viktorya Vilk, Harvard Business Review, June 3, 2020
- Helpful article on strategies for managing and some tips for preventing harassment online, specifically on social media.
- Online harassment and bullying, section of Pew Research website. Helpful resource for statistics and background information.
- The state of online harassment, Emily A. Vogels, Pew Research Center, January 13, 2021 – helpful study to provide a wider picture and context.