The modern world cannot be imagined without social media and social networking be in Twitter, Facebook or professional sites for academia like LinkedIn and Academia.edu. It is important to admit that using social media has become not only the desire but a necessity for a person to function in the world.
Work environment is an area that cannot avoid references to social media activities. Today, not only personal conversations are related to our interactions on social media, but it has become an unavoidable avenue for promoting our work and networking. Even for recruitment purposes, most employers check social media platforms for potential candidates and of their potential employees. Forbes explained this phenomenon as social media is the key player for job seeker today (Smith, 2013).
Career development in academia can be interpreted in variety of ways. It can mean finding mentors to guide you on the topic of research or it can be just interacting with like minded professionals. It can expose the world of the research being done by the individual and broaden their reach. This network of interested professors, academicians and researchers can enhance the profile as well provide better opportunities.
There is a lot of research out there that addresses the effect of social media on career development. Career development in all the academic fields cannot be complete without online interactions with other people interested in a particular study (Chan et al., 2018). There has been research done that says social media has provided a great platform to promote their research, however, limited number of the academia surveyed (127 in total surveyed) believed that it had a positive impact on their career development (Donelan, 2015). Others believe that “considering reasons for use and selecting the most appropriate social media channel” and more specific like “creating virtual platforms for training and co-learning” is the future of academia (Esciffery et al., 2018). Some believe that social networks provide the opportunity to “the general cognitive dispositions required for a successful career in the 21st Century” (Khousa " Atif, 2017). There is dichotomy of opinion questioning the role of social media for an academician in his/her career development. This raises the important challenge of changing generations and using social networking for the enhancement of one’s career in academia through expansion of reach of research.
In this paper, I would be analyzing the consequences marked by the positive contribution of social media, the studies that highlight different effective strategies for use of social media in academia. Following the Donelan et al, 2015’s survey, I would analyze the perception of academicians in this regard - has it changed or is there still a general sense that social media is not of much interest for career development for academicians.
In the paper, I will examine in detail the positive impact of social media on career development in reference to online interactions, persuasive motivators, and useful strategies, but at the same time broach the question of negative attitude towards social media in the academic sphere and the motivations behind non-adoption.
Social media in academia
Over the last decade or so, the influences of Web 2.0 in the form of social media tools have dramatically changed the way the academicians work and research (Donelan, 2015). These tools have affected how academicians and researchers communicate, work in partnership, and discover and share information.
From a student’s perspective, since many of these tools have pervaded in their personal lives, exploiting some of these tools into both formal and informal learning was an obvious and deliberate move. These virtual networks, now used by teachers to connect to students, have extended to connecting other individuals globally. This provides an opportunity of sharing resources, providing support, getting feedback, and presenting opportunities for collaboration (McLoughlin, 2016). These tools have transformed the academic environment for professors and students alike. They emphasize on collaboration and exchange and push the importance of social networks as sources of problem solving and innovation (McLoughlin, 2016).
Career development through social media
From the point of view of career development, abundant resources are available both online that offer support for finding jobs through social networking; creating and managing an online reputation or brand; and the idea of self-marketing and its various techniques. These social media platforms offer a very inexpensive outlet for putting together a persona and effectively presenting that professional identity or ‘personal brand, communicating who you are both within and outside your company’ (Dutta, 2010).
Although avenues like twitter and facebook can make your presence felt in the age of internet, the work–related social media websites like LinkedIn and Academia.edu are the ones that would have more impact on the career for academicians. In Donelan’s 2015 survey, out of the 127 surveyed only 11% of work related social media sites users, 16% of Twitter users and 30% of bloggers revealed that there were positive contribution towards their career progression.
In today’s day and age the ability to effectively use twitter as a tool is a skill which many employers are looking for now. It gives name recognition and high public profile for people interested in such things. However, it is most used as a publicity platform to advertise one’s work. Professional work social sites on the other hand, helped maintain an existing network and enhance its - developed new contacts.
Most influential individuals in the social network are also being used as persuasive agents. Their powerful structure position in social media influences others learners to adopt the same career paths. Undeniably, social media is being used to formulate career choice and these agents contribution is being analyzed to meet the requirements of a particular field, which could be academia (Khousa " Atif, 2017).
Negative impacts of social media
Apart from the opportunity of networking and publicity, there are a lot of negative impacts that social media brings with itself. Prospective managers can look at social media to assess the applicant, which he/she may or may not have intended for them to see. For instance, a personal Facebook page can be used to look for behavioral patterns in the textual and graphic information (Nikitkov " Sainty, 2014). This can be a deemed an invasion of privacy.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are considered highly addictive in nature and are not seen as an efficient use of time. Many employers and large corporation have banned the usage of such social media websites within their premises for precisely this reason. According to a study published in Emerging Adulthood in 2013, author Jennifer Walsh explained that students using more social media had “fewer academic behaviors, such as completing homework and attending class, lower academic confidence and more problems affecting their school work, like lack of sleep and substance use.”
In research, social media has also brought forth issues of plagiarism. There are many instances where the work of a fellow researcher is quoted and shared without giving any credit to the original researcher. If this becomes a practice, then it can have negative repercussions on one’s career.
Managing social media for career enhancement
In all honesty, given the popularity and all pervasive nature of internet, if one does not create an online brand for themselves, search engines like Google will create one for you and there is a chance that you might not like the one created for you.
It is important to understand that social media profiles like Twitter and LinkedIn get higher rankings on Google searches. With one search of your name, these profiles are likely to appear on the first page itself. Therefore, creating an online presence to your liking becomes indispensable. It has the potential to control the information that is being discovered about you online (Duque, 2016). A good idea would be to create a Google alert on your name to receive an e-mail every time you are mentioned anywhere on Google.
Conclusion
Social media is a tool that the modern researcher, scholar and scientist should have in their arsenal collection. However, it is a personal choice. Those that choose to use it should be aware of potential pitfalls and problems that they could encounter as they enter this world, but should not shy away from them because they can greatly increase the reach and impact of their work. It is important that the user carefully considers the reasons for its use and selects the most appropriate social media channel and strategy to achieve the goal (Esciffery et al., 2018).
References
Chan, T. M., Stukus, D., Leppink, J., Duque, L., Bigham, B. L., Mehta, N., " Thoma, B. (2018). Social media and the 21st-century scholar: How you can harness social media to amplify your career. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 15(1), 142-148. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2017.09.025
Donelan, H. (2015). Social media for professional development and networking opportunities in academia. Journal Of Further And Higher Education, 40(5), 706-729. doi: 10.1080/0309877x.2015.1014321
Duque L. (2016) How academics and researchers can get more out of social media. Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/06/how-academics-and-researchers-can-get-more-out-of-social-media
Dutta, S. (2010). Managing Yourself: What’s Your Personal Social Media Strategy? Harvard Business Review. Available online: http://hbr.org/2010/11/managing-yourself-whats-yourpersonal-social-media-strategy/ar/1
Escoffery, C., Kenzig, M., Hyden, C., " Hernandez, K. (2018). Capitalizing on social media for career development. Health Promotion Practice, 19(1), 11-15. doi:10.1177/1524839917734522
Khousa, E., " Atif, Y. (2017). Social network analysis to influence career development. Journal Of Ambient Intelligence And Humanized Computing. doi: 10.1007/s12652-017-0457-9
McLoughlin, C. (2016). Social Media for Networking and Participatory Professional Learning. 2nd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Universitat Polit`ecnica de Val`encia, Val`encia. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/HEAd16.2016.2867
Nikitkov, A., " Sainty, B. (2014). The role of social media in influencing career success.
International Journal of Accounting " Information Management, 22(4), 273-294. doi:10.1108/IJAIM-02-2014-0009
Smith J. (April 16, 2013). How Social Media Can Help (Or Hurt) You In Your Job Search. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/16/how-social-media-can-help-or-hurt-your-job-search/#77ef21b37ae2
Walsh, JL., Fielder, RL., Carey, KB. and Carey, MP. (2013). Female College Students’ Media Use and Academic Outcomes - Results From a Longitudinal Cohort Study. Emerging Adulthood, Volume: 1 issue: 3, page(s): 219-232. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2167696813479780
Keywords: social media, networking, career development, social media activities
