How to be a 'Twitter academic'

Who am I? Why isn’t anybody listening to me? Is everyone judging me on what I just said?

You may now be thinking that you’ve accidentally opened the blog post of a tormented teenager, but you are sadly mistaken! This is me: a 23 year old PhD student struggling to write a Tweet. Not an essay, not my thesis: a tweet! I mean come on, it’s only Twitter! What’s so hard about being a Twitter academic…

When it first launched in 2006, Twitter was a hub of social interaction, banter and hashtags. These days, Twitter is flooded with academics, harnessing the power of social media to share their opinions and disseminate their research findings to the world. So when I joined the craze, I was understandably excited about the world of new possibilities and connections that lay in front of me.

I sat down to write my first ‘intellectual’ tweet… And nothing happened. Apparently writers block isn’t just reserved for ‘traditional’ academic writing! This struggle has continued to bother me throughout my endeavour to be a fully-fledged ‘twitter academic’. I either feel as though I have nothing of value to say, too much to say (in the case of the dreaded 36 character limit!) or absolutely no idea of how to say what I mean.

So here are my 3 top tips on how to be a ‘Twitter academic’:

1. Create your own Twitter community: Following other Twitter academics can be a great way to get started. Not only can you gain inspiration from their style, but you can also respond, reply and interact with their tweets. This allows you to begin conversing with other academics, making connections and forming an online community where you can flourish and feel confident.

2. Find a balance between ‘you’ and ‘academic you’: Tweeting is almost like shouting at the top of your lungs in a crowded pub. Being in a public space, there are certain things you’d never shout out! At the same time, a pub is a more relaxed atmosphere than an academic setting. Make your tweets intellectual yet conversational. Don’t worry if this seems difficult at first because tip number three is…

3. Be brave! : It’s very easy to get caught up in what others think about your tweets, especially with direct feedback in the form of likes and retweets. However, try not to get too caught up in the Twitter popularity contest. Making a contribution on Twitter is better than remaining silent, and by engaging with other Twitter users, you may interact with people who otherwise you’d never have even met! So be brave, tweet and enjoy it!

What are your experiences of #BeingATwitterAcademic? Why not share your own tips in the comments below?

Happy tweeting!

@SianDoesScience

Changing Lives, Changing Worlds conference

Last month, I attended the morning of the second day of the Changing Lives, Changing Worlds conference. This interdisciplinary conference showcases the research of postgraduate students. The theme of the session I attended was Voices of Youth and included a talk on the representation of Eastern European immigrants in literature (Fanni Suto), a talk about young politics in the UK (Ben Bowman) and a talk about the challenges in researching young people's experiences of child trafficking (Alinka Gearon). All the talks were extremely well presented, and gave me an interesting insight into other areas of academic research.

The talk that struck me most was the final session hosted by Alinka Gearon. She highlighted issues such as access to participants and also the complex ethical issues involved in researching the sensitive topic of child trafficking. From a social work perspective, she talked about her experiences in joining youth support groups, becoming part of these communities and allowing the children the time needed to build a relationship of trust and rapport. Initially, Alinka used a memory both to engage the children, but soon found that even references to memories were painful for some individuals. So, after asking the children what activities they liked, improvised dance sessions were held. These sessions were interactive, energetic and promoted social bonding. Alinka found that, as a result of these sessions, the children were happy to attend focus groups and interviews about their experiences.

Overall, her story so far really highlighted the importance of creativity in research, and also the impact that client involvement can have upon the research process and outcome.

I would like the thank the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Bath for hosting this event.