Maybe you’ve decided to take the plunge.  You’ve signed up for a Twitter account, and you’re trying to figure out how to use it, how to tweet, and what the hell is a hashtag anyway?!  But once you’ve progressed beyond these teething stages, it’s important to think about how to maximise what you get out of Twitter for what you put in: your valuable time and energy.  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information that is generated – 500 million tweets are sent every day! – and while some of it will be useful and interesting, much of it will be irrelevant to you.

How do you separate the signal from the noise, to find the information you want?

How do you connect with other like-minded professionals on Twitter and become part of their online community?

With Chris Brandner (@ChrisBrandner) and Nathan Lee (@NathanAndyLee), we pooled together our advice for getting the most out of your time on Twitter.  This post is part three of a four-part series on the value of using Twitter professionally (here are links to part one and part two).

Continue reading →

When people think about whether to invest their energies into cultivating a professional online presence, they’re usually most interested in the costs and benefits.  How much time is this going to require?  How much effort do I have to put in?  What are the rewards that I could reap by investing my time and effort into developing my professional identity through social networks?  I teamed up with Chris Brandner (@ChrisBrandner) and Nathan Lee (@NathanAndyLee) to examine both sides of the coin – barriers and opportunities – in this post, part two of a four-part series on the value of Twitter in academia (click here for part one: “How and why we use Twitter”).

Continue reading →

“Is Twitter really worth it?”  This is easily in the top 3 questions that I am asked most often by colleagues and friends in academia who are interested in establishing an online presence. Undoubtedly, it’s an important to question to answer in this modern age where it seems that everyone is universally pressed for time. While it’s a query I am always happy to field, I believe it is best answered from multiple viewpoints.  Over recent weeks, I have been collaborating with fellow PhD students Chris Brandner (@ChrisBrandner) and Nathan Lee (@NathanAndyLee); together, we have documented our individual experiences using Twitter as a professional communication medium, ultimately to provide our insights on why we believe Twitter is worth the time and effort.

In this post, part one of a four-part series, we begin by explaining how and why we use Twitter.  In the rest of the series, we will discuss the barriers that stopped or slowed our own adoption of the social network, the opportunities that have stemmed from establishing a Twitter presence, and our suggestions for making the most of your time on Twitter.

Continue reading →