Researchers’ attitudes towards the use of social networking sites

Abstract

Journal of Documentation AbstractPurpose: The aim of this study is to better understand why many researchers do not have a profile on social networking sites (SNS), and whether this is the result of conscious decisions.Design/Methodology: Thematic analysis was conducted on a large qualitative data set from researchers across three levels of seniority, four countries and four disciplines to explore their attitudes towards and experiences with SNS. Findings:The study found much greater scepticism towards adopting SNS than previously reported.Reasons behind researchers' scepticism range from SNS being unimportant for their work to not belonging to their culture or habits. Some even felt that a profile presented people negatively and might harm their career. These concerns were mostly expressed by junior and midlevel researchers showing that the largest opponents to SNS may unexpectedly be younger researchers.

Spanish academics and social networking sites: Use, non-use, and the perceived advantages and drawbacks of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu

“…This scenario might prompt special caution among these academics that a badly managed professional image through SNS might imply an additional obstacle in their perception by their male peers. Something similar was found among the younger scholars, who also find their position as more insecure and perceive that using social media sites might damage their careers (Greifeneder, et al, 2018).…”

“…In general, non-users of social media believe that SNSs lead to detached and narcissistic communication (Lüders and Brandtzaeg, 2017). In a similar sense, SNS have been perceived as an element alien to academic culture and practices (Greifeneder, et al, 2018).…”

From Youthful Experimentation to Professional Identity: Understanding Identity Transitions in Social Media

“…Given the gap in the literature concerning the identity transition from an experimenting youth to a professional in social media, we decided to employ semistructured interviews with young adults who had newly been appointed as professional journalists (Table 1). We chose this group of participants because research has suggested that self-presentation goals in social media are increasingly challenging not only for young people but also for young adults in some professions, such as academia (Greifeneder et al, 2018) and journalism (Rogstad, 2014).…”

Marca personal en entornos académicos

“…Las encuestas se presentan como la mejor fórmula para conocer la motivación (o desmotivación) en su uso (Almousa, 2011;Elsayed, 2016;Jeng, He y Jiang, 2015;Lupton, 2014;Van Noorden, 2014, Kramer y Bosman, 2016Greifeneder et al, 2018). Tomando como fuente por su actualidad y amplitud la encuesta de Nature Research (2017), se demuestra la dependencia entre las tareas que los investigadores realizan respecto de sistemas concretos; un uso continuado de modelos provenientes de la web 1.0; y la preeminencia de redes sociales académicas, especialmente ResearchGate, en el ámbito profesional (Figura 4) 2 .…”