A search in Google will come up with a long list of academics explaining how Twitter has benefited their research, before and after publication. Twitter can be a useful tool to:
How to sign up to Twitter and create your profile
Your profile page is effectively your “shop window” so try to make it unique, something that says who you are and what you do. Your username can be your own name (e.g., @JohnSmith) or something a bit more esoteric (e.g., @mathsgenius). Remember though, if you use your own name it may be easier for others to find you.
Use your profile to tell people about your research and experience, what you teach, and what your interests are. Link to your blog or website too, so people can explore more, and try to add a photo so people can recognize your tweets immediately on their feed.
Who should I follow on Twitter?
Following the right people and organizations automatically personalizes your Twitter feed (the list of tweets that come up on your home page), and helps Twitter tailor the recommendations it makes to you. You are bound to have a list of colleagues who already use Twitter, so you can start with these. Then think more widely: follow people you admire, organizations you have an interest in, media outlets, and researchers working on related areas to you.
You can use the Twitter list functionality to group accounts you’re interested in and create a mini-feed so it’s easier to keep up-to-date with their latest tweets.
Tips for tweeting about your research
These are just some starter tips; you can also direct-message people, thank people if they retweet you, ask questions, or set up polls.
A Twitter success story
‘Moving to a world beyond “p < 0.05’, published in the The American Statistician is an example of one article for which using Twitter made a difference…
The Altmetric data available on Taylor & Francis Online enables you to see the attention your article is getting including whose talking about your research on social media. Find out more about measuring impact with Altmetric.
Further resources
A social media guide for journal editors: how to plan, grow, and maintain a journal social media account
What does the social media editor of a journal do?
Tips for dealing with online harassment in academia
External resources
If you’re looking to jazz up your social media ads, we recommend visiting Canva.
Sign up for the Taylor & Francis Insights newsletter to keep up to date with the research published in your field.