Social media updates and a hot tip
You may have been using social media channels for your research profile for some time. But like anything, every platform wants to change and evolve. I noticed just the other day some changes to Twitter and LinkedIn that you may or may not have noticed, and also, I have noticed some bad habits of social media users that I would like to point out, in a friendly way of course.
I have been using this platform for a long time and have started to notice subtle changes to where you find things. In fact, whilst teaching LinkedIn, it has become apparent that we do not all see the same menu’s on LinkedIn. At first I thought this was an update issue but when I have new people sign up for the first time in class their LinkedIn has a different look and feel to mine, interesting and a little annoying to say the least!
What’s changed?
They recently updated the Privacy and Settings page; this is accessed by clicking on your photo. You used to have to re-enter your password to access this but not anymore, however not all of the functions have moved. In particular, the function where you can give or ask your connections for referrals does not exist in the new settings page. I have also found the new page less intuitive, but it might just take some getting used to. There seem to be other things missing as well, not sure what exactly, but there are less options on the new page compared to the old design.
Bad habit – using hashtags in LinkedIn updates!
Well since the beginning of the year there has been a lot of banter around the changes to Tweets that would allow for more than 140 characters, we have not yet seen this change, and personally, I like it the way it is.
What’s changed?
Two things you may or may not have noticed. The first is that Tweets are no longer shown in chronological order, but instead by relevance! The algorithm is based on the previous “while you were away feature”. Personally, I think it is helpful to have the most relevant tweets first, although I would image if I am following someone then all of the tweets would be somewhat relevant! Good news is you can turn if off. To find out more, check this website.
The other thing that I have only recently noticed is that on the Android Twitter app, I can select to get a notification when particular users tweet. This functionality may have been there for a while but I only just found it. Of course, this could be good and bad, needless to say, I haven’t yet used it, and I haven’t managed to find this on the desktop version!
Bad habit – 1. tweeting twenty times in one day then not for another week! Learn some tools that help. 2. Not using hashtags!
I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about another service that I have been using to help grow my following. I use this app to target Twitter users that are based in Australia and that are related to research.
There are several great functions of this app, firstly you can remove inactive Twitter users that you may be following, it will list them by length of time since the last tweet. You can also use this app to copy the followers of other Twitter users; it’s a nice way to quickly find relevant people that you want to follow on social media, and if you’re lucky, they will follow you back and help you to grow. Check it out and see if it helps you. I think you can also use this for Instagram if you happen to use that platform as well.
There you have it, a quick update on social media happenings and a new tool for you to explore. Let me know in the comments if you have any further comments about this or maybe you can fill me in on changes you have noticed.
Tamika