Thing 8: Register for Twitter and find researchers to follow

Twitter is a powerful networking tool because of the fast, informal and non-hierarchical communication it facilitates - if you find someone’s work interesting and want to communicate with them then you can instantly get in touch. The fact that responses on Twitter are so quick to compose, as well as the generally friendly and sharing ethos on the service, means that people tend to be very responsive and approachable.

Perhaps more so than most digital tools, it can be hard to ‘get’ Twitter until you practice using it - it’s so different from other forms of communication that trying to describe it in the abstract can make it sound much more confusing than it actually is. However there’s a large academic community using it and more are joining every day.

by eldh

For some examples of the ways in which Twitter can be used by researchers, take a look at this guide produced by a doctoral researcher at Warwick Manufacturing Group.

For thing 8 we're asking you to sign up to Twitter and find some researchers to follow. Use the step by step instructions to get started. Remember to blog about your experience.

Additional Resources:

• LSE’s Twitter Guide
• 10 Ways Researchers Can Use Twitter

Emma Cragg : 07 Nov 2011 09:00 |  Tags: Networking Theme4 Thing8 Twitter |  Comments (1) |  Report a problem