What are mini-programs?

WeChat mini-programs are sub-applications that can be accessed by scanning a QR code or searching within WeChat. This reduces the time of download and installation, thereby meeting the demand for easier, quicker, and smarter applications.

Why mini-programs are popular

WeChat mini-programs have been widely adopted across industries because of six powerful features:

First, the name of the mini-program is unique; it is the same as the domain name and the network real name (whoever registers first owns the name). This feature allows the publisher or society to maintain its brand identity and image.

Second, the “all-in-one” design of mini-programs provides great convenience for users. They do not need to spend time in download and installation, mini-programs are easily searchable, and users can interact with other applications. As academic researchers are typically hard-pressed for time, a mini-program that helps them save time is likely to appeal to this audience.

Third, mini-programs can integrate with online shopping systems seamlessly, both for mobile devices and PCs. Fourth, mini-programs have multiple access pathways, such as by scanning a QR code, searching within WeChat, and hyperlinking in WeChat articles. This makes it comparatively easier for a publisher or society to promote their mini-program. Fifth, mini-programs have strong transmission ability. Finally, mini-programs support various APIs, enabling easier customer service and improving customer communication.

Differences between a WeChat account and mini-program

Several of the world’s leading publishers have started using WeChat accounts for outreach in China, but not many have explored the full potential of WeChat mini-programs. There are some differences between accounts and mini-programs. First, a mini-program is an application: once the function or settings have been changed, the application needs to go through the app approval procedure, and this procedure is more rigid than the procedure for just a WeChat account. Second, mini-programs can be developed only by using the WeChat development tool, while WeChat account functions can be developed using any development tools. However, mini-programs are more powerful than WeChat accounts in supporting user interactions, as described earlier.

How can scientific organizations or publishers use mini-programs?

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) WeChat account has a mini-program named Periodical Division Table of the Center for Documentation and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This mini-program provides three main services: searching for journal rankings, institutional account login, and information navigation. In a WeChat account, this level of user interaction and information exchange is not possible. Mini-programs enable publishers and research societies to increase user stickiness, reduce application development and operation costs, improve the accuracy of user data statistics, and facilitate multi-channel sharing for better publicity and to reach more end users. Through mini-programs, publishers can offer specific services or solutions to meet the needs of their WeChat audiences.

Below are some screenshots for how CAS uses WeChat mini-programs.

How to set up a mini-program

Setting up a mini-program is not as complex as it seems, if you follow the below steps.

• Ascertain what functions of mini-programs you need.
• Scan the QR code in the screenshot below and register the name of your mini-program.
• Ask your experts in HTML+CSS+JS to develop the mini-program by following the developer framework. Check the developer forum for details.
• Submit the code of your mini-program to the WeChat approval panel for approval.

Conclusion

As journals, publishers, and scientific societies attempt to engage more and more with the Chinese research community, it will become increasingly necessary for them to not just adopt but also fully optimize their use of local communication channels like WeChat. Mini-programs are a valuable feature that can complement and enhance a publisher’s or society’s WeChat strategy by making it easier, faster, and more convenient for users to obtain the information they want.

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1. Segmenting and targeting members

Research societies already apply some form of strategic segmentation (such as special prices and programs for students, early career researchers, etc.). Societies can drill down to find further segments within the broader groups of members, such as by geographical location, subfield, or even type of workplace (e.g., university vs. hospital). As part of this process, it’s important to also acquire detailed knowledge about the targeted segment(s)—not just their research-related needs but also their overall lives, especially challenges. Information  behaviors are influenced by a variety of factors, including demographic, job-related, and psychological.

2. Collecting and analyzing data

With societies offering more and more online resources and communication channels, analytics are a powerful tool for identifying how exactly members engage with these resources and what generates maximum engagement. For example, are webinars more popular than podcasts for continuing education? Does making a page mobile friendly increase its views, and by how much? All these questions and more can be answered by regularly collating analytics for the society’s web properties. In addition, focus group discussions can be a valuable source of information, enabling societies to understand what underlies the numerical data that analytics provides.

3. Refining offerings to cater to the target segment(s) content consumption pattern

Using the insights gained from the first two steps, societies can optimize the content they provide each segment. In other words, the insights collected should form the basis for decisions such as whether to provide career advice and support beyond a jobs board, whether training programs for early career researchers should focus on writing skills or more specifically grant application skills, etc. Further, knowing whether a target segment, such as practitioners, uses a smartphone or computer to stay updated can allow the society to optimize the content format used to deliver research updates (e.g., podcast vs. email newsletter). Similarly, if a particular segment doesn’t have a stable, high-speed Internet connection (e.g., because they are doing fieldwork in remote areas), they would probably prefer downloadable PDF handbooks to livestreamed webinars. Knowing how many members don’t attend webinars because they are in the wrong time zone can enable societies to set up online libraries for accessing webinar content. These are some ways that existing offerings can be customized if the segments are targeted and their consumption patterns are clear.

See also: How synthesizing multiple papers into single infographics helped the American Society of Clinical Oncology ensure clinicians received critical updates

4. Employing a multichannel approach for promotion

It’s necessary to communicate offerings to the target segments through multiple channels, based on their communication preferences. Relying on a single communication channel like email limits a society’s reach and visibility. Promote your content offerings in multiple places, such as your newsletter, direct emailers, on your conference website, on your society website, and on multiple social media platforms, based on how your target segment searches for and accesses information.

Conclusion

Societies are investing significant time and effort in diversifying their revenue streams, particularly by leveraging their rich content resources and position as thought leaders in their fields. For a content plan to have maximum effectiveness, it needs to be based on strategic understanding of their members and what drives their uptake of society offerings.

Early career researchers can play a significant role in revitalizing your society. Download this whitepaper to learn more about engaging and retaining these members.

The post Maximizing Member Uptake of Your Society Offerings: A Four-Step Approach appeared first on CACTUS.

Create the narrative

Societies and publishers can collaborate with the author(s) of a research paper to create a plain language summary as well as a press release around the paper. When the findings from a study are accurately summarized in non-technical language and this summary is publicly available, the chances of the findings being misinterpreted are lowered.

Share the narrative

The press release should be disseminated to trusted journalists and reputable wire services, so that the earliest coverage around the paper can be accurate. In the press release, it’s a good idea include a contact email ID and/or a phone number for the press to get any further details required.

Shape social media

Societies and publishers should proactively promote the research paper on social media while including links to the original paper, to control the social media narrative around the research. Here, it’s important to cover all popular platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter, which serve as primary news sources for a significant proportion of the population. Further, the paper should be summarized using a variety of content formats, including videos if possible, considering the significant role of video platforms like YouTube in spreading fake news.

Check whatever is publicly available

If a paper is likely to attract significant public and political attention, it’s helpful to review all parts of the paper that are publicly available. For instance, the abstract should be checked to ensure none of the statements can be twisted or misunderstood, especially the numerical data. If any of the artwork is being made publicly available, the legends should be as detailed and self-explanatory as possible.

Don’t overlook preprints

Societies and publishers should discuss the presence of any preprints with the authors, particularly if there are significant changes between the preprint and published paper. The authors can choose to update the preprint, withdraw the preprint, post a link on the preprint server to the peer-reviewed version of the paper, etc.

Conclusion

In a politically volatile context, science communication is often more difficult than usual. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, topics like immigration, vaccination and autism risk, and climate change attracted considerable controversy. Research societies and publishers therefore need to realize that they can wield a great deal of influence over how science is communicated and thereby understood and applied. Disseminating research accurately nowadays can not just save scientists’ reputations but also save lives.

The post Communicating Politically Sensitive Research: Tips for Societies and Publishers appeared first on CACTUS.

1.           Encourage attendees to create detailed profiles, including social media handles. Detailed profiles help attendees get to know each other and discover commonalities, which can help break the ice. Profiles shouldn’t include merely what they’re researching, but allow attendees to share personal interests (e.g., yoga, gaming).

2.           When promoting your event, especially on social media, make sure to specifically mention the networking components and explain how to join or register for them. Audiences are still figuring their way around the various platforms and formats of virtual conferences, so it’s a good idea to make it as easy as possible for them to join a networking session.

3.           If possible, curate the attendee list of a networking event. Ideally, try to keep a balance of “regulars” and “newbies,” so that you don’t have 7-8 pals catching up with a couple of strangers staying on mute in the sidelines. Try not to have an obvious “odd man out” such as an early career researcher among a bunch of tenured professors, or a single non-native English speaker in a group of native English speakers.

4.           Get your timing right: for discussion to be meaningful, attendees need at least one hour. But after 90 minutes, serious “Zoom fatigue” can kick in.

5.           Set informal guidelines in both a pre-event email and at the start of the meeting. Since there will always be newcomers, it’s best to spell out clearly what topic(s) can be discussed, what an attendee needs to do if they’re leaving early, etc.

6.           Start the session 2-5 minutes early so that early birds can join. But keep your main icebreaker for 1-2 minutes after the event’s official start time, so that you have maximum participation. It’s also a good idea to choose a conversation starter that doesn’t specifically have to do with an attendee’s title, institute, or country. 

7. Choose a platform that enables attendees to create their own meetings and breakout sessions. In offline events, attendees serendipitously connect with each other and choose to engage with different people on a one-on-one basis. Having some semblance of this in a virtual meeting will improve engagement.

Conclusion

Although many societies have planned in-person conferences and congresses in 2022, the old status quo is unlikely to return: societies have realized the scope for a virtual component to an in-person event and even a series of virtual events to complement a single, big in-person meeting. Virtual networking events, though not interchangeable with in-person networking, have their own advantages. For instance, organizers can split participants into random groups online to promote mixing, whereas in offline conferences, attendees focus on connecting with either known faces or acknowledged leaders. Furthermore, in conferences of the future, virtual attendees should not be made to feel like second-class citizens. Hence, conference organizers would do well to actively improve their virtual networking components, rather than assume that only the in-person attendees have networking needs. 

The post Seven Ways to Improve Your Virtual Networking Event appeared first on CACTUS.

Make Students Aware of Your Benefits

Students need to know how joining a society will benefit them directly. Societies need to cater directly to students’ various needs, to build a thriving pipeline of younger members. For instance, the Academy of Management’s Doctoral Student Development Program offers student members access to videos on sophisticated research methods and data analysis techniques, as well as video lectures. Programs or schemes targeted towards students, especially undergraduates or recent graduates, should be promoted through channels popular to their generation (e.g., TikTok rather than Facebook).

Enable Practitioners to Apply Research

Healthcare practitioners join societies to access research that can benefit them in their daily clinical practice. Societies can best meet this need by providing easily digestible summaries of the voluminous literature they produce, so that busy practitioners can stay updated without devoting a significant amount of time to reading. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) catered to this need by partnering with Impact Science to develop concise and attractively designed visual summaries of multiple oncology papers, intended for clinicians. As part of this collaboration, ASCO’s 60-page annual report was distilled into a 3-min video.

Help Researchers Stay Updated

A fundamental need of a society’s researcher members is to stay abreast of latest developments in the field. With many researchers working from home due to lockdowns in various parts of the world, Societies need to make sure their peer-reviewed content is easy to access and consume even outside the traditional university/institutional environment.

Help Early Career Researchers Advance

Early career researchers account for a large portion of the academic workforce, but society leadership is generally dominated by senior researchers. One way societies can retain early career researchers as members is by offering them opportunities to lead, share their opinions, and influence Society decisions. For instance, the American Society for Cell Biology instituted COMPASS (Committee for Postdocs and Students) to help young scientists build connections within the Society, network with policymakers and leaders, enhance their skills and expertise, and advance in their careers. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics has set up PharmTalk, a platform to inform young researchers about career options and share best practices.   

Get Creative With Membership Fees

Although you may feel your fees are priced reasonably, your calculations are probably based on “normal” (i.e. pre-pandemic) times. When faced with budget cuts, job insecurity, or other financial constraints, your members will probably re-evaluate whether their society memberships are financially worthwhile. Now’s the time to explore affiliate or loyalty programs if you haven’t done so before: for example,  the American Chemical Society offers existing members a one-year waiver on their dues, as well as special waivers or discounts for not just student members but also those pausing their careers to care for their families, those who are disabled, and those serving in the US Armed Forces.

Foster Connections Among Members

It’s an understatement to say that all types of members are probably craving more connection with their peers this year. Even those fortunate enough to return to their workplace have to grapple with new travel restrictions, which prevent them from attending conferences to network as they used to. While virtual and hybrid (online/offline) conferences will likely dominate the scene in 2022, Societies can host various large and small virtual networking events throughout the year. For instance, AHRA (American Healthcare Radiology Administrators) offers both members and non-members the opportunity to host a free virtual networking event, while providing logistical and marketing support.

Conclusion

Owing to the pandemic, the needs and environment of society members have changed, often drastically. Successful societies recognize and adapt to these changing needs, ensuring they are relevant and valuable for all member segments in the long run.

The post Growing and Retaining Membership in 2022: What Societies Need to Do Differently appeared first on CACTUS.

1.      Host Virtual Events

By and large, the biggest advantage of virtual events is how accessible they are. Travel, accommodation, and visa costs—all of which can be prohibitive for researchers from low- and middle-income countries—are eliminated. Keeping some events online-only and having a virtual component to offline events (i.e., hybrid events) makes society activities much more accessible to international researchers. It’s also a good idea to repeat sessions or webinars at different times and days, to cater to multiple time zones.

Pro tip: In emailers, notices, etc. about virtual events or webinars, use the 24-hour clock and specify multiple time zones in the description (e.g., 09:00 EDT, 13:00 GMT, 22:00 JST).

2.      Actively Increase Diversity

Audiences identify with and engage with speakers of their own ethnicity or cultural background more easily. Virtual conferences make it easier for societies to recruit speakers from a variety of countries, and several societies also include  an “international” component to their governance structures, such as an international councilor or international committees. In all this, however, it’s important to avoid token diversity (e.g., having just one member or speaker outside the dominant country or region).

3.      Exploit Social Media

Judicious social media use can help societies reach out to and engage with members from a variety of countries. For instance, the European Molecular Biology Organization used the hashtag #ScienceSolidarity to promote its online list of resources for US researchers stranded by Trump’s 2017 immigration ban on 7 Muslim-majority countries. As a result of social media publicity, researchers outside the US made new contributions to the list as frequently as every 3-4 minutes. To cater to an international audience, Societies need to use multiple platforms and repost announcements strategically. For instance, a tweet posted at 11 AM ET might not be seen by an East Asian audience, for whom it is midnight or nearly so.

Read more: How The BMJ boosted engagement in China by leveraging local social media platforms

4.      Translate Judiciously

For a society targeting a specific country or region, translating research content owned by the society into the local language is expensive and time-consuming. Many non-native English-speaking researchers, though capable of reading and following scientific information in English, would be comfortable if webpages related to registration, payments, etc. were in their native language. This allows them to navigate society websites and resources more easily, while reducing translation overheads for the society.

5.      Price Equitably

Membership dues, conference registration fees, etc. can be prohibitive for researchers in the Global South, especially low- and middle-income countries. Societies need to explore various alternative pricing models, such as tiered pricing, travel grants, or support-a-delegate schemes. Providing society benefits to such researchers can also prevent colonialization of science.

Conclusion

Societies in the Global North can tap into the growing body of researchers in non-English-speaking countries (for instance, China now has more researchers than the US). Looking beyond one’s borders is a smart move for societies aiming to grow their membership base in 2022. International members can bring in new perspectives, thereby enriching and advancing research worldwide.

The post Five Ways Research Societies Can Boost International Membership appeared first on CACTUS.

Is TikTok a waste of time? Something for bored teens? The numbers say otherwise. Let’s look at what makes TikTok such a powerful communication tool.

What is TikTok?

With 60% of the user base belonging to GenZ, TikTok is primarily video-based like YouTube. The maximum length of a video that can be uploaded to the platform is 60 seconds. Videos created by other users, known as tiktoks, appear on a user’s “For You” page according to TikTok’s algorithms. Users have the option of recording themselves alongside an audio clip. Tiktoks can be reposted on other social media platforms, but some like Instagram actively discourage this practice.

TikTok v/s. Other Social Media Apps

Facebook: Long considered the preferred social media platform, Facebook lost out to TikTok in 2021 in terms of time spent per user. Despite the erstwhile social media giant being able to host all kinds of content, including video stories, the platform has declining growth among younger users in the US, its oldest market.

Twitter: Twitter is primarily considered the go-to platform for news and updates as well as discussions and commentaries on public affairs despite having multimedia upload features. This gives Twitter an edge over TikTok, especially in terms of grabbing the attention of journalists, policymakers, and public officials.

Instagram: Both TikTok and Instagram work best on smartphones. Instagram has been around longer than TikTok and allows sharing of images and GIFs in addition to videos (though the time limit on Instagram reels is 30 seconds). Instagram wins over TikTok in terms of being more business-friendly, offering users the option of creating a professional account and also offers a Business Tools feature, which makes content promotion easier.

YouTube: Before the rise of TikTok, YouTube was the undisputed leader of video and video marketing. It still retains a key advantage over TikTok: there is no time limit on YouTube videos. This enables the creation of more in-depth videos as well as more opportunities to build brand awareness or gain audience trust. 

TikTok for Science Communication

Considering TikTok’s younger user base, it’s not surprising that the platform has been used to inform and educate high school and undergraduate students. There are tiktoks explaining chemistry concepts, generating excitement around marine biology, and helping engineers upskill. Universities like the University of Victoria  and Syracuse University have used TikTok for virtual campus tours and online wellness kits. In the US, Black creators have used TikTok to spread awareness of Black history (but TikTok has also been criticized for devaluing Black creators and unfairly censoring material related to the #BlackLivesMatter movement).

TikTok has also been useful in public health education. Individual doctors have created tiktoks explaining topics as diverse as the dangers of vaping and ways to improve gut health. Further, TikTok has had some success in destigmatizing mental health among men. Team Halo, a group of scientists and healthcare professionals working to combat Covid-related misinformation, have successfully used TikTok to combat vaccine misinformation, encourage minority communities to participate in vaccine trials, and reassure the public about vaccine side effects. The US government has followed suit, enlisting TikTok influencers in campaigns to get Gen Zers vaccinated. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of TikTok for Science Communication

Here are some factors to consider when choosing to include TikTok in science communication initiatives.

1. Engagement: The amount of time users spend on TikTok, particularly in the US, is increasing. For example, the average time per month spent on Tiktok was 442.9 minutes in October 2019, which increased to 858 minutes by March 2020.
2. Audience reach: Most TikTok users are Gen Z. In the US, around 30% of its users are 10-19 years old. TikTok is available in 75 languages across >150 countries including China (where platforms like Facebook and Twitter are banned).
3. Content format: TikTok primarily caters to smartphone users; hence, videos in the vertical format perform better than videos shot horizontally. The ideal aspect ratio (i.e., the relation between width and height) is 9:16, as for a standard smartphone screen. The time limit for videos is 60 seconds, though TikTok is experimenting currently with a 3-minute length.
4. Legal constraints: TikTok is currently banned in India and Pakistan. It has also been intermittently blocked in Indonesia and Bangladesh. While the Trump administration attempted to ban TikTok in the US in June 2020, President Biden revoked this order in June 2021.

Conclusion

Like it or not, TikTok has a large and growing audience in the US market. While it definitely shouldn’t be the sole (or even predominant) social channel for your digital content strategy, don’t overlook it when determining your social media mix or when it comes to social listening. Tiktok could be a useful platform for campaigns targeting younger members and early career researchers.

The post Should Your Society Take TikTok Seriously? appeared first on CACTUS.

Author: Sunaina Singh

By enabling scholars to rapidly and directly disseminate their research to a wide audience, even beyond the academic community, social media has transformed scholarly communication in many ways. Of the popular social media platforms, Twitter stands out in its usefulness in different facets of higher education, including teaching, receiving the latest updates in a field of study, increasing academic citations, and sharing opinions on current events.

For China scholars in particular, Twitter offers the opportunity to communicate with a diverse spectrum of sources of specialist and generalist knowledge of China, including certain intellectuals and activists based in mainland China (who override the censorship placed on Twitter), besides Chinese media like Xinhua and People’s Daily and Western media covering China issues. Academic journals like The China Quarterly, as well as relevant academic departments and institutes, also have a presence on Twitter. Moreover, upwards of 300 China studies scholars, spanning all fields and career stages, are active on Twitter (Sullivan, 2016).

In an interesting paper, Jonathan Sullivan of the University of Nottingham systematically examined how China scholars are adopting Twitter for a number of professional reasons like networking with other researchers in their field of work, increasing research visibility, staying up-to-date on developments in their study domain, and building an online presence for themselves. He uncovered some valuable takeaways in the process, which will be discussed in this article.

China scholars’ use and views of Twitter

In his study, Sullivan surveyed the experiences and perceptions of a fraction of China scholars who use Twitter. Half of the respondents of the survey reported using Twitter for more than two years, and 15% had less than a year’s experience. Nearly 44% reported using Twitter for up to an hour every day. Most of the scholars stated that they use Twitter to collect information and stay abreast of current events. About 75% scholars said they share links and related materials, publicize their own activities, and connect with other China scholars. Two-thirds revealed they use Twitter to connect with China-focused professionals in other sectors. Over half the respondents stated that Twitter had helped them become much better informed. While 42% of the surveyed scholars felt that Twitter had helped them expand their academic and professional networks considerably, 40% thought it had not added value to their academic reputations at all.

Several respondents agreed that Twitter widened information access and exposed them to new ideas and teaching materials. Positive effects reported by some scholars included achieving a wider network than would be possible in the physical world, the conception of novel ideas for research, and staying up to date with the latest developments in their field. A few negative points noted by the respondents about Twitter use were distraction, reduced productivity, and information overload.

The conflict between the “rapid-response Twitter commentary” versus the traditionally slow pace of scholarly practice was also voiced by certain respondents. Some scholars stated that their peers perceived Twitter as a waste of time or a platform for blatant self-promotion. Many respondents expressed apprehensions and reluctance to openly discuss sensitive issues about China because of possible repercussions on their access to the country or collaborators residing therein.

Why should Early Career Researchers (ECRs) use Twitter in 2020?

Twitter offers real-time interaction, a sense of closeness, and short response times. In addition, discoverability, enabled by the use of hashtags, makes it easy to rapidly find and share content and increase visibility. The informal nature of communication helps soften communication barriers with senior researchers, whom junior scholars might otherwise be hesitant to reach out to in person. Another key feature of Twitter is the use of multiple captivating content formats like infographics and videos, which attract interest and hold public attention, as well as interactive features like polls, which engage audiences actively.

Promoting one’s research on Twitter has been found to positively correlate with higher citation counts. According to one study, articles tweeted about received thrice as many citations as those that were not tweeted about. In his article, Sullivan cites several studies highlighting Twitter as an alternative measure of research impact and professional competence. Metrics based on social media forums like Twitter provide new ways to evaluate the significance and reach of a research output, complementing traditional citation metrics. Quantifying activity such as retweets and mentions of scholarly articles might help build a more complete picture of a researcher’s work and social influence.

Twitter also makes it easy to have intra-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary exchanges with scholars. In addition, Twitter is being used to comment upon academic practices and culture, seek and share advice, deliberate on teaching practices, and discuss and debate issues in real-time. Some scholars go as far as saying that opting out of social media can be equated with opting out of email in the 1990s.

How can China scholars benefit from Twitter?

Some tips to engage productively on Twitter include sharing interesting articles and book reviews related to topical issues and participating in Twitter discussions with relevant hashtags, e.g., #PhDChat or #AcademicTwitter. Using and following hashtags like #ChinaStudies and #ChinaScholars would be a useful way to identify other researchers from the field and forge academically meaningful connections. China scholars may have expertise in niche areas, and by creating and promoting their distinct profiles (“branding,” so to speak), they can harness Twitter’s potential for boosting visibility and recognition.

The Story of Seagh Kehoe

An interesting story that reinforces the importance of China scholars to utilize Twitter is that of Seagh Kehoe, Sullivan’s student, whose area of interest is Tibetan studies. Kehoe chanced upon a second-hand copy of an obscure book, titled ‘Sue in Tibet’. Intrigued by what appeared to be the first piece of Western children’s literature set in Tibet, they posted a picture of the book on Twitter. Almost instantly, they were contacted by Samanthi Dissanayake, the Asia editor for the BBC News website, regarding the possibility of an article based on the book. Thus began Kehoe’s quest into the life and background of the book’s author, Dorris Shelton Still, with Twitter playing a huge role in locating Dorris’s family and gleaning insights into her life and experiences in Tibet. The accidental discovery of an American woman’s perspectives of life in Tibet in the early 1900s and the wise decision of sharing it on Twitter sparked interest in the right places. Kehoe ended up being interviewed on BBC’s Newshour, and the story also featured in a series by The New York Times, thanks to the “the engine of creativity that is Twitter,” tweeted Dissanayake. This media exposure was a bonus for Kehoe, who unwittingly displayed their ability to engage audiences beyond their field of study, all the way to the general public.

Tweeting is an excellent way to demonstrate engagement with current affairs and reach out to journalists for promotion and garnering public attention. Sometimes, as in Kehoe’s case, journalists may contact a researcher upon spotting a social media post with potential for an interesting story. In fact, Sullivan notes that by trawling Twitter, China correspondents often identify scholars to interview. Media pieces resulting from these interactions can help establish useful connections and build professional reputation. Journalists even advise China scholars to use Twitter in order to increase their online presence and media impact. Like the rediscovery of ‘Sue in Tibet’, many more stories remain to be unraveled, shared, and discussed widely.

Constraints faced by China Scholars

Some scholars felt that their superiors did not consider Twitter use favorable in the study environment.

While many China scholars would be interested to take part in open discussions related to their field of study, most express inhibitions to do so. Access to domestic social media platforms such as Sina Weibo is an option for scholars residing in China, these sites are heavily monitored, preventing unrestricted and uncensored exchange of information.

Another constraint faced by Twitter users in general is the 280-character limit for a tweet. This forces scholars to distil their findings into a pithy and more accessible format. Therefore, expressing results as concisely as possible is a skill that early career scholars need to fine-tune.

Using social media as an academic increases opportunities for collaboration and engagement, and several Western universities now place considerable emphasis on impact and engagement in higher education. However, ECRs are not typically trained to build this ability. Thus, experience and skill in optimizing Twitter use are focus areas for young scholars.

Conclusion

Besides research, teaching, and administration, competence in handling digital media is increasingly being encouraged by institutions. Twitter has been found to benefit China scholars hoping to expand their external engagement profile, particularly by opening possibilities for media engagement.

China scholars who are social media savvy will be at an advantage in the competitive job market. In fact, as demonstrated by the story of Seagh Kehoe, China scholars can benefit tremendously from such active and sustained networking with various stakeholders.

In 2020, researchers are now faced with travel restrictions and a lack of in-person symposia and conferences, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this landscape, the role of Twitter in helping China scholars connect and network is probably more important than ever.

Ready to amplify your research on Twitter but don’t know where to begin? Impact Science can help! Write to us at request@impact.science for support.

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