Twitter

Twitter is a micro blogging social network that limits updates to no more than 140 characters. Like any social network the benefits only become clear after investment of time and effort in building your network and contacts (see Network Building), however it can be a great way to reach new audiences, or specialists in your areas of interest globally.

You could establish a twitter account for use by your project or study, or perhaps more beneficially establish a personal account and build your personal digital footprint.

Open a Twitter account, it’s free, although you may see some promoted tweets in your stream. Set up an account, search by keywords of interest to you and follow people (you do not need to know them in real life)
Establish your account (or start talking about your project on your existing account) as early in the research process as possible, build momentum and interest
You need to check in with your network regularly, consider it like an online community, build conversations, reply to people, ask questions, be social
Use hashtags # to find conversations and groups of interest (see Online Discussion)

If you find 140 characters is too short for you, establish a blog and share a link to your blog posts on Twitter (see Blogging)

Barriers

Twitter, like any social network, relies on you being social to be successful – this can be time intensive, especially when you first join up

Communicating in 140 characters can be challenging at the start. Remember its not academic writing, you don’t need to worry about perfect grammar and punctuation!

Enablers

Twitter is mobile so you can tweet whenever you have a spare moment and it can facilitate networking e.g. at a conference or event

Writing concisely is a good skill to learn, the design of Twitter supports this and can help you develop an accessible writing style

Enables you to reach a global audience, in real time and gather input, ideas and discussion

Required Skills, Competencies or Resources

Ability to be responsive and engage

Time to engage. Requires time investment to get returns.

Ability to be concise and succint in your communication

What to Measure?

Number of new connections and stakeholders (e.g. follower numbers)

Number of twitter lists you're added to

Number of conversations held

Twitter

Barriers

Enablers

Required Skills, Competencies or Resources

What to Measure?

Can be integrated at the following stages of the research process: