Social media can be a menace to the doctoral researcher, offering a wealth of distractions. But it can also offer opportunities to communicate with other people in your field, regardless of location.
The Sussex Online Researcher Profile
All doctoral researchers can create a web profile. This increases your visibility and help other people find out about you and your research. You can include a biography, add your qualifications, list any publications, and also link to your blog and Twitter feed, if you have them.
To get started with your profile, please either download the quickstart guide (PDF), or visit the Study Direct module (Sussex login required).
There’s also a directory of all the current online profiles.
Many academics are now on Twitter and some of them tweet useful information. Even if you don’t tweet yourself, it’s worth creating an account to stay up-to-date.
For a gentle introduction, try this free online course on Making the Most of Twitter for Academics.
If you’re already familiar with the basics, take a look at #phdchat for tips and support from researchers around the world.
There’s much more information available on the different types of social media through our Building Your Academic Web Presence module (Sussex login required).