ABSTRACT
Doctoral researchers are increasingly harnessing social media to interact with academic communities and to develop professional identities online. This chapter analyses the findings from two surveys and a series of interviews with doctoral researchers about their uses of social media. The results confirm that prime motivations are a desire to feel part of a wider research culture and to learn from peers. In addition, the interview findings suggest that researchers become social media savvy during their doctoral journeys, demonstrating an understanding of the rules of engagement, confidence in an online voice, and carefully constructing an online identity that is both professional and authentic. This savvy is developed through a combination of trial and error, observation of online interactions, and, occasionally, through academic role models. Given that not all doctoral researchers have access to social media role models within their supervisory teams, the chapter argues that institutions can usefully provide this function for all, by offering steer on social media best practice and highlighting the opportunities it affords.
