The document provides instructions for using social media for research purposes. It includes details on accessing presentation slides on slideshare, logging into a shared blog and Twitter account, and links to Google Docs used in the session. It also gives a 3-step guide to using RSS feeds that involves finding a reader, finding relevant feeds, and adding them to the reader. More detailed instructions are provided on setting up a Google account and adding feeds to Google Reader.

1. Using
Social
Media
For
Research
&
Researcher
Development
A
copy
of
the
slides
from
today’s
presentation
can
be
found
on
slideshare
and
can
be
accessed
at
www.slideshare.net/sarahlouq
-­‐
It
is
my
intention
for
the
training
session
to
be
as
interactive
as
possible
and
you
can
follow
the
activities
online
using
slide
share.
Log
in
details
for
today’s
session:
Blogging:
www.networkedresearchertraining.wordpress.com
Username:
genericcontributor1
Password:
networkedentry
Twitter:
(If
you
don’t
already
have
a
twitter
account)
Username:
CAcademic
Password:
connected1
Link
to
the
Google
Doc
used
today’s
session:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y0h-­‐
0jwCy15xe424WBqPkpym_M7irQjPL1e4KjUqF3Q/edit

2. 3
Step
Guide
to
RSS
1.
Find
a
Reader:
• Google
offers
two
alternatives:
• iGoogle:
http://www.google.co.uk/ig
a
homepage
you
can
personalise
with
feeds
• Google
reader:
http://reader.google.co.uk
a
reader
just
for
RSS
feeds
2.
Find
some
feeds:
• Search
for
your
favourite
journals
–
most
offer
RSS
feeds
of
contents
and
more
• Look
at
databases
to
see
if
they
offer
any
alerts
by
RSS
(e.g.
the
databases
section
of
the
library
catalogue.
• Academic
jobs
and
funding
opportunities:
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/feeds
• News
from
your
research
council:
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/default.htm
• Blogs
in
your
research
area:
(Do
a
Google
blog
search:
http://bogsearch.google.com
• Calls
for
papers
(Humanities
and
Social
Sciences):
http://www.h-­‐
net.org/about/rss.php
• Visit
researchblogging.org
a
site
which
covers
academic
research
discussed
within
the
blogosphere.
3.
Add
feeds
to
reader:
• Copy
the
URL
of
the
page
• Go
to
your
feed
reader
• Find
the
link
that
says
“subscribe”
(Google
reader)
or
“add
stuff”
or
then
“add
feed”
(iGoogle)
• Paste
the
URL
of
your
feed
into
your
feed
reader
• Sit
back
and
watch
the
information
come
to
you!
More
detailed
instructions
on
setting
up
a
Google
account
and
adding
feeds
to
your
reader
is
given
on
the
following
page
…

3. Setting
up
a
Google
account
You’ll
need
a
Google
account
to
use
Google
Reader.
A
Google
account
is
free
and
will
take
only
a
few
minutes
to
set
up.
If
you
don’t
have
a
Google
account
already,
follow
these
instructions
to
set
up
an
account.
• How
to
set
up
a
Google
account
1. Open
your
browser
and
go
to
the
following
address:
www.google.co.uk
2. Click
on
‘Sign
in’
in
the
top
right-­‐hand
corner.
3. Follow
the
link
to
create
an
account.
4. Enter
your
details
in
the
boxes
provided.
If
you
wish,
read
the
Terms
of
Service
associated
with
having
a
Google
account.
Click
‘I
accept’
to
create
your
account.
5. You
should
now
be
on
the
Google
Account
Creation
Confirmation
page.
If
not,
go
to
www.google.co.uk
for
the
UK
home
page.
6. Your
Google
account
may
need
to
be
verified
before
you
can
use
it
to
carry
out
the
other
activities.
To
do
this,
check
the
inbox
of
the
email
address
which
you
specified
when
setting
up
your
account.
Follow
the
instructions
in
a
message
from
Google
to
verify
your
account.
• If
you
already
have
a
Google
account,
perhaps
because
you
use
Google
Mail
or
Google
Maps,
you
won’t
need
to
create
a
new
account:
just
log
into
Google
Reader
using
your
existing
Google
account.
Getting
to
Google
Reader
• When
you’ve
set
up
your
Google
account
you
need
to
access
Google
Reader.
1. You
need
to
be
signed
into
your
Google
account
in
order
to
begin
the
process
of
accessing
Google
Reader.
If
you
haven’t
done
so
already,
refer
to
the
section
above,
‘Setting
up
a
Google
account’.
2. Go
to
Google
Reader
or
type
‘Google
Reader’
into
your
search
engine.
3. Sign
in
(create
a
Google
Reader
page)
by
entering
your
Google
account
details,
which
are
your
email
and
password.
(You
may
wish
to
bookmark
this
page
when
you’ve
signed
in.)

4. 4. You
are
now
using
Google
Reader.
Spend
a
moment
looking
over
the
page,
but
don’t
worry
too
much
about
functionality
right
now
–
we
are
going
to
come
to
that
soon.
5. You
will
notice
that
Google
already
adds
some
RSS
feeds
or
items
for
you
–
you
can
ignore
them
for
now.
When
you’ve
finished,
you
should
have
a
Google
account
and
be
signed
into
Google
Reader.
Adding
RSS
Feed
to
Google
Reader:
1. You
should
be
signed
into
your
Google
Reader
page.
Go
here
if
necessary:
http://www.google.com/
reader
2. Visit
http://www.researchblogging.org
This
site
contains
academic
research
that
has
been
discussed
in
the
blogosphere.
Have
a
search
around
the
site
for
interesting
posts.
If
you
go
to
the
RSS
heading
at
the
top
of
the
page
you
can
select
which
feed
you
would
like
to
subscribe
to.
If
you
are
signed
into
Google
it
will
give
you
the
choice
of
adding
the
feed
to
your
reader
or
to
your
Google
home
page.
3. You
have
now
subscribed
to
an
RSS
feed
using
Google
Reader.
If
you
wish
to
add
more
feeds
that
discuss
subjects
you’re
interested
in,
you’ll
need
to
find
them
online.
Remember
to
look
for
the
RSS
symbol
when
you
visit
that
web
page
to
see
if
you
can
subscribe
to
it
using
Google
Reader.
4. Now
you
are
able
to
use
Google
Reader
to
subscribe
to
RSS
feeds.

5. How
to
start
tweeting...
1. Create
an
account
–
Go
to
twitter.com
and
click
on
Sign
up.
You
will
need
to
make
a
username
for
yourself,
which
is
what
will
show
up
on
Twitter.
Give
some
thought
to
this
choice.
It
is
part
of
your
digital
profile,
and
you
may
likely
wish
to
keep
this
account
going
as
your
professional
career
continues.
Once
you
have
an
account,
it
is
a
good
idea
to
fill
out
your
profile
at
least
to
some
extent,
by
clicking
Settings.
Having
a
good,
descriptive
profile
including
a
picture
that
is
at
least
fairly
recognisable
as
you
will
encourage
people
to
follow
you.
2. Start
following
people
–
Click
on
“who
to
follow”
at
the
top.
This
will
provide
you
with
a
range
of
options
for
finding
people.
You
can
also
search
for
specific
individuals
using
the
search
box
at
the
top
of
the
“who
to
follow”
page.
Check
the
profile
to
make
sure
that
the
person
you
find
is
indeed
the
person
you
want
to
follow.
If
you
know
someone’s
Twitter
username,
you
can
search
on
that
and
be
sure
to
find
the
correct
person.
Follow
people
who
have
interests
similar
to
your
own.
Tip:
when
you
find
someone
whose
interests
match
yours,
have
a
look
at
the
people
they
are
following;
you
may
wish
to
follow
these
people
as
well.
For
example,
you
might
wish
to
follow
me
(I
tend
to
talk
a
lot
of
random
nonsense
as
well
as
some
interesting
things
about
PhD
research
and
HE).
My
twitter
name
is
@sarahthesheepu
When
you
follow
people,
they
may
follow
you
back.
You
may
wish
to
follow
those
who
follow
you.
Be
aware:
you
will
notice
followers
who
are
salespeople
or
who
are
encouraging
you
to
visit
dodgy
sites.
They
follow
you
in
the
hopes
that
you
will
be
interested
in
what
they
sell.
If
you
are
not
interested,
it
is
best
to
either
ignore
(simply
do
not
follow
them)
or
even
perhaps
block
such
followers.
It
is
good
to
get
good
people
to
follow
you
back.
By
good
people,
I
refer
to
those
who
will
be
tweeting
about
things
you
are
interested
in.
Only
those
who
choose
to
follow
you
will
see
your
tweets.
Generally,
the
best
way
to
build
up
followers
is
to
keep
tweeting
interesting
things,
and
to
follow
those
who
share
your
interests.
3. Now
you
can
start
tweeting
Remember,
a
tweet
can
be
no
longer
than
140
characters.
Here
are
some
suggestions
of
what
to
tweet
about:

6.
a. Comment
on
something
in
the
news
that
is
of
interest
to
you.
b. Call
others’
attention
to
a
website
discussing
something
of
interest
to
you.
Include
a
link
to
the
site
where
it
is
discussed.
See
number
4
below
for
some
great
ways
to
shorten
the
url
of
links.
c. You
may
like
to
say
what
you
are
doing,
but
ask
yourself,
is
it
interesting
to
other
people
that
I
am
doing
this?
If
not,
think
of
something
else
to
tweet
about.
d. Tweet
about
your
lecture
or
whatever
you
are
working
on
now.
This
is
the
best
way
to
show
who
you
are
and
build
your
Twitter
around
your
interests.
e. Ask
a
question
about
something
you
are
interested
in.
This
can
best
illustrate
the
power
of
Twitter.
Your
question
may
get
answered
by
a
true
expert
in
the
field.
Or,
you
may
get
no
response
at
all.
Don’t
be
discouraged
if
this
happens.
Just
keep
trying
and
tweeting.
Sooner
or
later
those
who
share
your
interests
will
respond.
Twitter
friends
can
be
very
loyal
and
eager
to
help.
f. Reply
to
someone
else’s
tweet.
This
is
an
excellent
way
to
make
friends
and
build
followers.
If
you
hover
your
mouse
in
the
box
of
their
tweet
you
will
see
an
arrow
and
the
word
Reply;
click
on
it,
and
it
begins
a
new
tweet
for
you
beginning
with
@
and
the
tweeter’s
nickname.
g.
Whatever
you
now
tweet,
that
tweeter
will
see
it
as
a
personal
response
to
their
tweet.
Replying:
This
gets
the
attention
of
the
original
tweeter.
If
your
interests
match
theirs
and
they
do
not
currently
follow
you,
there
is
a
good
chance
they
will
decide
to
follow
you.
This
is
a
nice
way
to
discuss
things
with
individuals,
but
it
is
not
private.
Everyone
can
read
it.
The
advantage
is
that
you
have
identified
that
you
are
replying
directly
to
that
particular
person.
Incidentally,
all
tweets
(including
replies)
which
include
@
just
before
your
username
will
be
collected
on
your
Twitter
home
page
just
under
the
‘what’s
happening’
box.

7.
Check
this
every
time
you
log
into
Twitter;
people
might
be
directly
speaking
to
you
using
that
technique.
(You
can
also
Direct
Message
people
who
follow
you;
Direct
Messages
are
only
seen
by
the
sender
and
the
recipient.
Check
your
own
Direct
Messages
by
clicking
on
your
Home
page,
on
the
right,
Direct
Messages.)
h. Re-­‐tweet
someone
else’s
tweets.
This
is
also
an
excellent
way
to
build
followers.
Re-­‐tweeting
means
that
you
repeat
the
tweet
so
that
all
of
your
followers
can
read
it.
To
retweet,
hover
your
mouse
in
the
lower
right
of
the
original
tweet,
and
click
Retweet.
You
might
also
want
to
retweet
and
add
a
comment
of
your
own.
In
that
case,
you
need
to
“retweet
by
hand”.
Just
copy
the
original
tweet,
click
into
the
box
where
you
enter
your
own
tweet,
begin
by
typing
RT
@
and
then
paste
everything
directly
after
the
@
Finally
add
your
comment
at
the
end;
it
will
have
to
be
fairly
short!
Your
retweet
will
look
something
like
this:
RT
@tbirdcymru
New
iPhone
app
lets
you
check
your
Blackboard
site.
–
v
cool!
4. To
shorten
a
URL
so
it
will
fit
into
140
character
tweet,
first
copy
the
URL
onto
the
clipboard.
Now,
go
to:
http://bit.ly/
Where
it
says,
“enter
your
long
link
or
file
here,”
paste
in
the
URL,
then
click
Shorten.
You
will
be
given
a
very
short
URL
which
you
can
now
copy
and
paste
into
your
tweet.