Links of the week – social media edition
After several slow weeks, ivrytwr is back in action. To kick off this post-filled week, let’s begin with another edition of ‘links of the week.’
These days I feel like a twitter evangelist. I’ve had so many great experiences with twitter that I’ve been singing its praises to anyone I know who will listen. While I’ve had a twitter account since 2008, it’s only been in the past year that I’ve actually started taking advantage of the service.
In honour of my new-found appreciate for twitter, this week’s instalment of ‘links of the week’ is dedicated to social media and its ever expanding role in academia.
1. Social Network Demographics in 2012 – The average age of a social media user is 36.9. This article provides a good breakdown examining who users social networks in today’s society. As it turns out, the average users is older and more female (71% of social networking sites have more female user than male) than is conventionally thought.
2. A Guide to Using Twitter in University Research, Teaching, and Impact Activities – This blog post from the London School of Economics and Political Science provides advice for new users on how to get started using twitter in an academic context. It’s a great guide for those new to twitter and has a number of relevant points for experienced users as well.
3. Twitter in the Higher Education Classroom: An Assessment – Adeline Koh (@adelinekoh) is a fantastic person to follow on twitter. Not only does she retweet great digital humanities links, she also writes excellent articles like this post about lessons she learned from using twitter in her classroom. Professors are using twitter in really interesting ways to engage their students both inside and outside the classroom. This article is a must-read for those interested in learning more about social media’s role in education.
4. Facebook’s 2012 Slide Looks a Lot Like MySpace’s 2008 Demise – After Facebook’s less than stellar IPO last spring there’s been blood in the water for the social media giant. While many are perhaps too quick to predict Facebook’s impending slide into irrelevancy, it is worth wondering what the world would be like without Facebook. This article examines why Facebook’s future may not be so bright.
5. British supermarket chain opens itself up to Twitter criticism in PR disaster – I’ll probably end up writing an article about this later in the week, but British supermarket chain Waitrose has offered the internet a master-class in how not to use twitter. After paying to promote the post “Finish the sentence: I shop at Waitrose because _______. #WaitroseReasons” the British chain was shocked to find that twitter users have a sense of humour. Within hours the hashtag received such replies as I shop at Waitrose because it makes me feel important and I absolutely detest being surrounded by poor people” and “I shop at Waitrose because Tesco doesn’t stock Unicorn food.” This story shows just how important it is to think before jumping on the social media train. The internet does not tolerate foolishness.
Well that concludes another edition of ‘links of the week.’ As promised, look for a busy week on the site including posts about how not to groundswell, how to make the best of burnout, and why we should be optimistic about the academic job market. Also look for another video from the ivrytwr Summer Roadtrip 2012; this week’s video will explore the Busan Aquarium, home to the longest underwater tunnel in Korea.
Thanks for reading, have yourself a great week.
