Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the practices and experiences of the educational scholar on social media and online networks. A cultural anthropologist, for instance, might share draft versions of her research on her blog, a geographer might post his syllabus on a document-sharing website, and a political scientist might investigate relationships between social media participation and election results. While social media/networks have been both extolled and decried in the academic literature and the popular press, a greater understanding of the experiences and practices of scholars with social media and online networks is necessary for a number of reasons. Social media and online networks appear to be less popular with scholars, but academic-focused online social networks Academia.edu, Research Gate, and Mendeley boast 11, 4.5, and 3.1 million users worldwide respectively.