Firstly, thanks for providing 23 Things.
As a virtual stranger to social media and not a blogger (before now) my first hurdle was thinking up an interesting / intriguing username (and therefore web address). Inspired by someone else’s play on words I came up with ‘A “short” researcher (mm)’ – as I’m definitely not tall and my initials are mm (millimetre).
The closest that I get to social media is LinkedIn but have thought of setting up a Facebook account – to keep up with news from friends and family. From a work perspective I have been on some MOOCs which, whilst not social media, did involve forums and students / lecturer’s posting material for clarification or discussion, using tags. I found that really useful, as is the ability to contact people or groups via LinkedIn when wishing to e.g. advertise an event or ask a question – or simply keep in touch.
The project which I’m currently working on, e-Supportive Care, involves both Facebook and Twitter – so I created a Twitter account earlier this week. I hope that I’ll be able to use it efficiently shortly! (I might skip ahead to those Things.)
On Friday I was looking at the Facebook and Twitter pages of various charities and have seen that some people have “liked” the posts about our study. It even told me how many likes there were – so I’ve an idea of the number of potential recruits!
So – I’m beginning to see that social media can be used to reach people, advertise things, find information and grow a “network”. It’s another way of getting the University, Faculty, School, projects and individuals better known, building working relationships with people whom I’d not have “met” otherwise. However, I’ll be mindful of the source of information and am concerned about the possibility of information overload. Hopefully there are techniques to help with this.
A Short Researcher (mm) 