tweeting social justice: how social work faculty use twitter
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Tweeting Social Justice How Social Work Faculty Use Twitter
Article in British Journal of Social Work middot October 2018
DOI 101093bjswbcx146
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Tweeting Social Justice How SocialWork Faculty Use Twitter
Johanna K P Greeson Seongho An Jia XueAllison E Thompson and and Chao Guo
University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy amp Practice Philadelphia PA 19104 USA
Correspondence to Johanna K P Greeson Assistant Professor University of
Pennsylvania School of Social Policy amp Practice 3701 Locust Walk Philadelphia
PA 19104 USA E-mail jgreesonsp2upennedu
Abstract
Social media are considered useful tools for academic purposes Our exploratory study
offers insight into the use of Twitter by social work faculty in the USA Employing an
online survey this study investigates Twitter usage among a sample of social work
faculty (n frac14 274) from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmes in the USA Slightly
more than half of the participants had Twitter accounts the majority of whom use
Twitter as part of their academic work The most common motivations for using
Twitter include promoting onersquos research raising awareness about an area of research
and engaging in networking with peers This study contributes to the literature by
describing the prevalence and patterns of Twitter usage among social work academics
and lays a foundation for future research investigating its effectiveness in increasing
awareness and promoting changes related to social justice issues
Keywords Twitter social media social justice MSW programmes social work
education
Accepted October 2017
Introduction
Widespread use of social media has changed the environment of com-
munication in many aspects of our society over the decade People use
social media in a variety of ways sharing life events and photos with
close family and friends building professional networks and promoting
The Author(s) 2018 Published by Oxford University Press on behalf
of The British Association of Social Workers All rights reserved
British Journal of Social Work (2018) 0 1ndash20doi 101093bjswbcx146
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causes and issues they care about Academics have incorporated socialmedia into their disciplines for research and education purposesA Nature survey shows that approximately 45 million researchers haveaccounts on ResearchGate with another 10000 new users every daySocial media such as ResearchGate are lsquochanging science in a way thatis not entirely foreseeablersquo (Noorden 2014 p 126) University facultyuse social media to interact with students (Moran et al 2011) dissemi-nate knowledge and resources related to their work (Priem andCostello 2010) and share information on academic conferences (Rosset al 2011) Various scientific disciplines use social media for academicpurposes including health professionals (Antheunis et al 2013) econo-mists (Fox 2012) physicists and mathematicians (Schriger et al 2011)and medical educators (Cheston et al 2013) Twitter in particular isused to share academic resources (Veletsianos 2012) facilitate educa-tion and learning (Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) exchange ideas(Ebner et al 2010) and promote interactions with scholars in other partsof the world (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009)
Across all sectors of social work including practitioners students aca-demicseducators and researchers there is increased appreciation of theimportance of proficiency with social media as part of practice andresearch efforts (Best et al 2016) In addition government and non-profit organisations use social media to share information about profes-sional services and mission-related work (Guo and Saxton 2014) Socialwork academics are called to engage with practitioners in the field sothat the fruits of research efforts more effectively reach practice com-munities Towards this end social media offer opportunities to dissemi-nate academic work more broadly reaching much larger audiences andfostering new ways to collaborate around social justice issues In addi-tion recently the American Academy of Social Work and SocialWelfare (AASWSW) has promoted the use of technology for socialgood as one of the twelve challenges for social work (Berzin et al2015)mdasha groundbreaking initiative to champion social progress poweredby science The AASWSW advocates that innovative applications ofnew digital technology such as the use of social media by social work-ers has the potential to help social and human services reach more peo-ple with greater impact on our most pressing social problems (Berzinet al 2015) However it remains unknown whether and how social workfaculty use social media as part of their academic and scholarly work
In this study we address this gap in our knowledge by examining howsocial work faculty use Twitter in their professional academic livesTwitter has recently been examined as a classroom tool in universityeducation (McArthur and Bostedo-Conway 2012) This study is animportant step in furthering our understanding of the use of Twitteramong higher-education faculty by focusing on social work academicswho collectively teach the more than 650000 individuals pursuing social
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work as their profession across the USA (Bureau of Labor Statistics2017) Our results provide insights about the nature of Twitter usageamong social work academics and recommendations for how we can bet-ter avail ourselves of this ever-evolving and expanding technology as weboth educate future social workers and strive to build a more just andequitable society
Social media and social work academics prior literature
Social media allow academics to enhance teaching and research opportu-nities University faculty use social media to enhance the interactionbetween instructors and students and enable students to expand theirlearning opportunities (Turner 2013) Social media can be used as anew form of communication for reading commenting and discussingwithout any restrictions of time and space in the university classroom(Ebner et al 2010) Following relevant professionals or organisations intheir field of study on social media supports student learning and profes-sional development (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009) In particularTwitter offers a platform for students to map their learning by askingquestions adding hashtags and compiling lists of feeds which extendsthe classroom and helps develop their public presentation skills(Greenhow and Gleason 2012) One study found that the use of Twitterin class discussion helps strengthen studentsrsquo understandings of professio-nal competencies and behaviours (Hitchcock and Battista 2013)
The use of social media by academics is not without its risksDownsides include copyright issues and that it can be time-consumingmicroblogging contents must be updated frequently to be successful(Bonetta 2007) Despite such challenges recent empirical studies showthat social media have proliferated throughout academia Moran andcolleagues (2011) have conducted a survey with 1920 teaching faculty inthe USA and found that about two-thirds of faculty use at least onesocial media site and that one-third use social media in their class ses-sions Another study of 711 academics worldwide surveyed publicly onTwitter by Lupton (2014) shows that more than 90 per cent of facultywho use social media do so for their work
Scholars can use social media in their research to collaborate withothers across schools and countries in a timely manner share pedagogi-cal practice and build an online research community (Grosseck andHolotescu 2008) Scholars use Twitter to share information resourcesand media related to their work share information about their class-room and students request assistance from and offer suggestions to oth-ers and engage in social commentary (Veletsianos 2012) They can alsoshare links to peer-reviewed resources in order to keep current withtopics in onersquos field of research (Priem and Costello 2010) circulate
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draft forms of academic work for quick comments and disseminate infor-mation on academic conferences (Ross et al 2011) These activities cre-ate opportunities for academic support outside of existing networks byconnecting users with a wider audience outside of traditional academia(Lupton 2014)
Social media may also change how scholarship is generated anddisseminated For example Twitter posts by the general public have pro-vided scientists with information about earthquakes in real time(Greenhow and Gleason 2014) Twitter also creates the possibilities ofconnecting social work academics worldwide For example the hashtagSWvirtualpal on Twitter was developed to connect social workers glob-ally and was created by academics in the USA and UK The use ofhashtags on Twitter has the potential to expand social workersrsquo under-standing of social work practice in other parts of the world (Hitchcock2016)
Recently a study on social media use across different disciplinesreveals clear disciplinary differences in how scholars use social media(Davis et al 2012) Social work researchers assert that there are distinctreasons to bring social media into their pedagogy Ahmedani and col-leagues (2011) recognise the emergence of a new educational technologyand argue that social workers must be prepared to use these tools wiselyand so social work educators should help students prepare for futurecareers by cultivating social media literacies Robbins and Singer (2014)suggest ways to infuse social media into social work education Theyargue that social media can be used to maximise the time social workstudents spend learning content outside the classroom and get updatedknowledge efficiently For example by following legislators and advo-cacy organisations on Twitter social work students can learn aboutrecent changes in social policies that published textbooks do not containThe authors argue that social work educators should prepare studentsfor integrating technological innovation to best serve clientsAdditionally they suggest that social media can be used by social workacademics for social advocacy For example social work scholars canpost a news item about gender or racial discrimination and provide rele-vant academic content on Twitter
Although most prior research emphasises the importance of under-standing the potential of social media in social work education no stud-ies have examined how academics in social work use social mediagenerally or Twitter specifically Therefore despite some recommenda-tions for social media use in social work education being present in theliterature we know very little about the actual use of Twitter amongsocial work academic faculty This study attempts to address this gap byanswering the following research questions
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To what extent are academics in social work using Twitterprofessionally
What motivations do they have for using Twitter
By answering these questions we hope to offer insights about the use ofsocial media and Twitter among social work academics in the USA thenaddress to what extent Twitter use among social work academics is asso-ciated with improved communication and networking with colleaguesand to what extent Twitter use impacts the dissemination and implemen-tation of social work academicsrsquo work
Method
Instrument
An online survey using Qualtrics survey software was developed bythe authors to answer questions about social work academicsrsquo experiencewith and use of Twitter As a pilot test the survey instrument (seeSupplementary Material) was distributed to seventy-seven faculty mem-bers from a select number of MSW programmes Sixteen faculty memberscompleted the survey Based on feedback from this pilot test the surveywas modified to improve its design (eg including a progress bar)
The final survey included thirty-three questions twenty-five closeditems with pre-coded response options and eight questions that requiredextended written responses In addition to demographics participantswere asked to report on whether they have a Twitter account and toprovide their Twitter IDs that allow access to their tweets used for anon-ymous quotes for this study They were asked about their experiencerelating to a variety of Twitter activities such as frequency of tweetsand retweets number of followers issues they tweet about and motiva-tion to use Twitter This study was approved by the universityInstitutional Review Board
Recruitment and procedure
The online survey was conducted from 2 to 25 February 2016 At firstan invitation e-mail was sent to all assistant associate and full professorsthrough their school e-mails obtained from university websites The invi-tation included a brief description of the survey instructions on how tocomplete it and the link to the survey After the first round tworeminder e-mails were sent to those who had not responded to our invi-tation The survey link closed 21 days after the second reminder e-mailThe response rate of this study was 194 per cent which is consideredreasonable for internet-based surveys (Im and Chee 2004)
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Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
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Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
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vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
Tweeting Social Justice How SocialWork Faculty Use Twitter
Johanna K P Greeson Seongho An Jia XueAllison E Thompson and and Chao Guo
University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy amp Practice Philadelphia PA 19104 USA
Correspondence to Johanna K P Greeson Assistant Professor University of
Pennsylvania School of Social Policy amp Practice 3701 Locust Walk Philadelphia
PA 19104 USA E-mail jgreesonsp2upennedu
Abstract
Social media are considered useful tools for academic purposes Our exploratory study
offers insight into the use of Twitter by social work faculty in the USA Employing an
online survey this study investigates Twitter usage among a sample of social work
faculty (n frac14 274) from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmes in the USA Slightly
more than half of the participants had Twitter accounts the majority of whom use
Twitter as part of their academic work The most common motivations for using
Twitter include promoting onersquos research raising awareness about an area of research
and engaging in networking with peers This study contributes to the literature by
describing the prevalence and patterns of Twitter usage among social work academics
and lays a foundation for future research investigating its effectiveness in increasing
awareness and promoting changes related to social justice issues
Keywords Twitter social media social justice MSW programmes social work
education
Accepted October 2017
Introduction
Widespread use of social media has changed the environment of com-
munication in many aspects of our society over the decade People use
social media in a variety of ways sharing life events and photos with
close family and friends building professional networks and promoting
The Author(s) 2018 Published by Oxford University Press on behalf
of The British Association of Social Workers All rights reserved
British Journal of Social Work (2018) 0 1ndash20doi 101093bjswbcx146
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
causes and issues they care about Academics have incorporated socialmedia into their disciplines for research and education purposesA Nature survey shows that approximately 45 million researchers haveaccounts on ResearchGate with another 10000 new users every daySocial media such as ResearchGate are lsquochanging science in a way thatis not entirely foreseeablersquo (Noorden 2014 p 126) University facultyuse social media to interact with students (Moran et al 2011) dissemi-nate knowledge and resources related to their work (Priem andCostello 2010) and share information on academic conferences (Rosset al 2011) Various scientific disciplines use social media for academicpurposes including health professionals (Antheunis et al 2013) econo-mists (Fox 2012) physicists and mathematicians (Schriger et al 2011)and medical educators (Cheston et al 2013) Twitter in particular isused to share academic resources (Veletsianos 2012) facilitate educa-tion and learning (Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) exchange ideas(Ebner et al 2010) and promote interactions with scholars in other partsof the world (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009)
Across all sectors of social work including practitioners students aca-demicseducators and researchers there is increased appreciation of theimportance of proficiency with social media as part of practice andresearch efforts (Best et al 2016) In addition government and non-profit organisations use social media to share information about profes-sional services and mission-related work (Guo and Saxton 2014) Socialwork academics are called to engage with practitioners in the field sothat the fruits of research efforts more effectively reach practice com-munities Towards this end social media offer opportunities to dissemi-nate academic work more broadly reaching much larger audiences andfostering new ways to collaborate around social justice issues In addi-tion recently the American Academy of Social Work and SocialWelfare (AASWSW) has promoted the use of technology for socialgood as one of the twelve challenges for social work (Berzin et al2015)mdasha groundbreaking initiative to champion social progress poweredby science The AASWSW advocates that innovative applications ofnew digital technology such as the use of social media by social work-ers has the potential to help social and human services reach more peo-ple with greater impact on our most pressing social problems (Berzinet al 2015) However it remains unknown whether and how social workfaculty use social media as part of their academic and scholarly work
In this study we address this gap in our knowledge by examining howsocial work faculty use Twitter in their professional academic livesTwitter has recently been examined as a classroom tool in universityeducation (McArthur and Bostedo-Conway 2012) This study is animportant step in furthering our understanding of the use of Twitteramong higher-education faculty by focusing on social work academicswho collectively teach the more than 650000 individuals pursuing social
Page 2 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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work as their profession across the USA (Bureau of Labor Statistics2017) Our results provide insights about the nature of Twitter usageamong social work academics and recommendations for how we can bet-ter avail ourselves of this ever-evolving and expanding technology as weboth educate future social workers and strive to build a more just andequitable society
Social media and social work academics prior literature
Social media allow academics to enhance teaching and research opportu-nities University faculty use social media to enhance the interactionbetween instructors and students and enable students to expand theirlearning opportunities (Turner 2013) Social media can be used as anew form of communication for reading commenting and discussingwithout any restrictions of time and space in the university classroom(Ebner et al 2010) Following relevant professionals or organisations intheir field of study on social media supports student learning and profes-sional development (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009) In particularTwitter offers a platform for students to map their learning by askingquestions adding hashtags and compiling lists of feeds which extendsthe classroom and helps develop their public presentation skills(Greenhow and Gleason 2012) One study found that the use of Twitterin class discussion helps strengthen studentsrsquo understandings of professio-nal competencies and behaviours (Hitchcock and Battista 2013)
The use of social media by academics is not without its risksDownsides include copyright issues and that it can be time-consumingmicroblogging contents must be updated frequently to be successful(Bonetta 2007) Despite such challenges recent empirical studies showthat social media have proliferated throughout academia Moran andcolleagues (2011) have conducted a survey with 1920 teaching faculty inthe USA and found that about two-thirds of faculty use at least onesocial media site and that one-third use social media in their class ses-sions Another study of 711 academics worldwide surveyed publicly onTwitter by Lupton (2014) shows that more than 90 per cent of facultywho use social media do so for their work
Scholars can use social media in their research to collaborate withothers across schools and countries in a timely manner share pedagogi-cal practice and build an online research community (Grosseck andHolotescu 2008) Scholars use Twitter to share information resourcesand media related to their work share information about their class-room and students request assistance from and offer suggestions to oth-ers and engage in social commentary (Veletsianos 2012) They can alsoshare links to peer-reviewed resources in order to keep current withtopics in onersquos field of research (Priem and Costello 2010) circulate
Tweeting Social Justice Page 3 of 20
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draft forms of academic work for quick comments and disseminate infor-mation on academic conferences (Ross et al 2011) These activities cre-ate opportunities for academic support outside of existing networks byconnecting users with a wider audience outside of traditional academia(Lupton 2014)
Social media may also change how scholarship is generated anddisseminated For example Twitter posts by the general public have pro-vided scientists with information about earthquakes in real time(Greenhow and Gleason 2014) Twitter also creates the possibilities ofconnecting social work academics worldwide For example the hashtagSWvirtualpal on Twitter was developed to connect social workers glob-ally and was created by academics in the USA and UK The use ofhashtags on Twitter has the potential to expand social workersrsquo under-standing of social work practice in other parts of the world (Hitchcock2016)
Recently a study on social media use across different disciplinesreveals clear disciplinary differences in how scholars use social media(Davis et al 2012) Social work researchers assert that there are distinctreasons to bring social media into their pedagogy Ahmedani and col-leagues (2011) recognise the emergence of a new educational technologyand argue that social workers must be prepared to use these tools wiselyand so social work educators should help students prepare for futurecareers by cultivating social media literacies Robbins and Singer (2014)suggest ways to infuse social media into social work education Theyargue that social media can be used to maximise the time social workstudents spend learning content outside the classroom and get updatedknowledge efficiently For example by following legislators and advo-cacy organisations on Twitter social work students can learn aboutrecent changes in social policies that published textbooks do not containThe authors argue that social work educators should prepare studentsfor integrating technological innovation to best serve clientsAdditionally they suggest that social media can be used by social workacademics for social advocacy For example social work scholars canpost a news item about gender or racial discrimination and provide rele-vant academic content on Twitter
Although most prior research emphasises the importance of under-standing the potential of social media in social work education no stud-ies have examined how academics in social work use social mediagenerally or Twitter specifically Therefore despite some recommenda-tions for social media use in social work education being present in theliterature we know very little about the actual use of Twitter amongsocial work academic faculty This study attempts to address this gap byanswering the following research questions
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To what extent are academics in social work using Twitterprofessionally
What motivations do they have for using Twitter
By answering these questions we hope to offer insights about the use ofsocial media and Twitter among social work academics in the USA thenaddress to what extent Twitter use among social work academics is asso-ciated with improved communication and networking with colleaguesand to what extent Twitter use impacts the dissemination and implemen-tation of social work academicsrsquo work
Method
Instrument
An online survey using Qualtrics survey software was developed bythe authors to answer questions about social work academicsrsquo experiencewith and use of Twitter As a pilot test the survey instrument (seeSupplementary Material) was distributed to seventy-seven faculty mem-bers from a select number of MSW programmes Sixteen faculty memberscompleted the survey Based on feedback from this pilot test the surveywas modified to improve its design (eg including a progress bar)
The final survey included thirty-three questions twenty-five closeditems with pre-coded response options and eight questions that requiredextended written responses In addition to demographics participantswere asked to report on whether they have a Twitter account and toprovide their Twitter IDs that allow access to their tweets used for anon-ymous quotes for this study They were asked about their experiencerelating to a variety of Twitter activities such as frequency of tweetsand retweets number of followers issues they tweet about and motiva-tion to use Twitter This study was approved by the universityInstitutional Review Board
Recruitment and procedure
The online survey was conducted from 2 to 25 February 2016 At firstan invitation e-mail was sent to all assistant associate and full professorsthrough their school e-mails obtained from university websites The invi-tation included a brief description of the survey instructions on how tocomplete it and the link to the survey After the first round tworeminder e-mails were sent to those who had not responded to our invi-tation The survey link closed 21 days after the second reminder e-mailThe response rate of this study was 194 per cent which is consideredreasonable for internet-based surveys (Im and Chee 2004)
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Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
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Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
causes and issues they care about Academics have incorporated socialmedia into their disciplines for research and education purposesA Nature survey shows that approximately 45 million researchers haveaccounts on ResearchGate with another 10000 new users every daySocial media such as ResearchGate are lsquochanging science in a way thatis not entirely foreseeablersquo (Noorden 2014 p 126) University facultyuse social media to interact with students (Moran et al 2011) dissemi-nate knowledge and resources related to their work (Priem andCostello 2010) and share information on academic conferences (Rosset al 2011) Various scientific disciplines use social media for academicpurposes including health professionals (Antheunis et al 2013) econo-mists (Fox 2012) physicists and mathematicians (Schriger et al 2011)and medical educators (Cheston et al 2013) Twitter in particular isused to share academic resources (Veletsianos 2012) facilitate educa-tion and learning (Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) exchange ideas(Ebner et al 2010) and promote interactions with scholars in other partsof the world (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009)
Across all sectors of social work including practitioners students aca-demicseducators and researchers there is increased appreciation of theimportance of proficiency with social media as part of practice andresearch efforts (Best et al 2016) In addition government and non-profit organisations use social media to share information about profes-sional services and mission-related work (Guo and Saxton 2014) Socialwork academics are called to engage with practitioners in the field sothat the fruits of research efforts more effectively reach practice com-munities Towards this end social media offer opportunities to dissemi-nate academic work more broadly reaching much larger audiences andfostering new ways to collaborate around social justice issues In addi-tion recently the American Academy of Social Work and SocialWelfare (AASWSW) has promoted the use of technology for socialgood as one of the twelve challenges for social work (Berzin et al2015)mdasha groundbreaking initiative to champion social progress poweredby science The AASWSW advocates that innovative applications ofnew digital technology such as the use of social media by social work-ers has the potential to help social and human services reach more peo-ple with greater impact on our most pressing social problems (Berzinet al 2015) However it remains unknown whether and how social workfaculty use social media as part of their academic and scholarly work
In this study we address this gap in our knowledge by examining howsocial work faculty use Twitter in their professional academic livesTwitter has recently been examined as a classroom tool in universityeducation (McArthur and Bostedo-Conway 2012) This study is animportant step in furthering our understanding of the use of Twitteramong higher-education faculty by focusing on social work academicswho collectively teach the more than 650000 individuals pursuing social
Page 2 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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work as their profession across the USA (Bureau of Labor Statistics2017) Our results provide insights about the nature of Twitter usageamong social work academics and recommendations for how we can bet-ter avail ourselves of this ever-evolving and expanding technology as weboth educate future social workers and strive to build a more just andequitable society
Social media and social work academics prior literature
Social media allow academics to enhance teaching and research opportu-nities University faculty use social media to enhance the interactionbetween instructors and students and enable students to expand theirlearning opportunities (Turner 2013) Social media can be used as anew form of communication for reading commenting and discussingwithout any restrictions of time and space in the university classroom(Ebner et al 2010) Following relevant professionals or organisations intheir field of study on social media supports student learning and profes-sional development (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009) In particularTwitter offers a platform for students to map their learning by askingquestions adding hashtags and compiling lists of feeds which extendsthe classroom and helps develop their public presentation skills(Greenhow and Gleason 2012) One study found that the use of Twitterin class discussion helps strengthen studentsrsquo understandings of professio-nal competencies and behaviours (Hitchcock and Battista 2013)
The use of social media by academics is not without its risksDownsides include copyright issues and that it can be time-consumingmicroblogging contents must be updated frequently to be successful(Bonetta 2007) Despite such challenges recent empirical studies showthat social media have proliferated throughout academia Moran andcolleagues (2011) have conducted a survey with 1920 teaching faculty inthe USA and found that about two-thirds of faculty use at least onesocial media site and that one-third use social media in their class ses-sions Another study of 711 academics worldwide surveyed publicly onTwitter by Lupton (2014) shows that more than 90 per cent of facultywho use social media do so for their work
Scholars can use social media in their research to collaborate withothers across schools and countries in a timely manner share pedagogi-cal practice and build an online research community (Grosseck andHolotescu 2008) Scholars use Twitter to share information resourcesand media related to their work share information about their class-room and students request assistance from and offer suggestions to oth-ers and engage in social commentary (Veletsianos 2012) They can alsoshare links to peer-reviewed resources in order to keep current withtopics in onersquos field of research (Priem and Costello 2010) circulate
Tweeting Social Justice Page 3 of 20
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draft forms of academic work for quick comments and disseminate infor-mation on academic conferences (Ross et al 2011) These activities cre-ate opportunities for academic support outside of existing networks byconnecting users with a wider audience outside of traditional academia(Lupton 2014)
Social media may also change how scholarship is generated anddisseminated For example Twitter posts by the general public have pro-vided scientists with information about earthquakes in real time(Greenhow and Gleason 2014) Twitter also creates the possibilities ofconnecting social work academics worldwide For example the hashtagSWvirtualpal on Twitter was developed to connect social workers glob-ally and was created by academics in the USA and UK The use ofhashtags on Twitter has the potential to expand social workersrsquo under-standing of social work practice in other parts of the world (Hitchcock2016)
Recently a study on social media use across different disciplinesreveals clear disciplinary differences in how scholars use social media(Davis et al 2012) Social work researchers assert that there are distinctreasons to bring social media into their pedagogy Ahmedani and col-leagues (2011) recognise the emergence of a new educational technologyand argue that social workers must be prepared to use these tools wiselyand so social work educators should help students prepare for futurecareers by cultivating social media literacies Robbins and Singer (2014)suggest ways to infuse social media into social work education Theyargue that social media can be used to maximise the time social workstudents spend learning content outside the classroom and get updatedknowledge efficiently For example by following legislators and advo-cacy organisations on Twitter social work students can learn aboutrecent changes in social policies that published textbooks do not containThe authors argue that social work educators should prepare studentsfor integrating technological innovation to best serve clientsAdditionally they suggest that social media can be used by social workacademics for social advocacy For example social work scholars canpost a news item about gender or racial discrimination and provide rele-vant academic content on Twitter
Although most prior research emphasises the importance of under-standing the potential of social media in social work education no stud-ies have examined how academics in social work use social mediagenerally or Twitter specifically Therefore despite some recommenda-tions for social media use in social work education being present in theliterature we know very little about the actual use of Twitter amongsocial work academic faculty This study attempts to address this gap byanswering the following research questions
Page 4 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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To what extent are academics in social work using Twitterprofessionally
What motivations do they have for using Twitter
By answering these questions we hope to offer insights about the use ofsocial media and Twitter among social work academics in the USA thenaddress to what extent Twitter use among social work academics is asso-ciated with improved communication and networking with colleaguesand to what extent Twitter use impacts the dissemination and implemen-tation of social work academicsrsquo work
Method
Instrument
An online survey using Qualtrics survey software was developed bythe authors to answer questions about social work academicsrsquo experiencewith and use of Twitter As a pilot test the survey instrument (seeSupplementary Material) was distributed to seventy-seven faculty mem-bers from a select number of MSW programmes Sixteen faculty memberscompleted the survey Based on feedback from this pilot test the surveywas modified to improve its design (eg including a progress bar)
The final survey included thirty-three questions twenty-five closeditems with pre-coded response options and eight questions that requiredextended written responses In addition to demographics participantswere asked to report on whether they have a Twitter account and toprovide their Twitter IDs that allow access to their tweets used for anon-ymous quotes for this study They were asked about their experiencerelating to a variety of Twitter activities such as frequency of tweetsand retweets number of followers issues they tweet about and motiva-tion to use Twitter This study was approved by the universityInstitutional Review Board
Recruitment and procedure
The online survey was conducted from 2 to 25 February 2016 At firstan invitation e-mail was sent to all assistant associate and full professorsthrough their school e-mails obtained from university websites The invi-tation included a brief description of the survey instructions on how tocomplete it and the link to the survey After the first round tworeminder e-mails were sent to those who had not responded to our invi-tation The survey link closed 21 days after the second reminder e-mailThe response rate of this study was 194 per cent which is consideredreasonable for internet-based surveys (Im and Chee 2004)
Tweeting Social Justice Page 5 of 20
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Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
Tweeting Social Justice Page 7 of 20
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
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Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
work as their profession across the USA (Bureau of Labor Statistics2017) Our results provide insights about the nature of Twitter usageamong social work academics and recommendations for how we can bet-ter avail ourselves of this ever-evolving and expanding technology as weboth educate future social workers and strive to build a more just andequitable society
Social media and social work academics prior literature
Social media allow academics to enhance teaching and research opportu-nities University faculty use social media to enhance the interactionbetween instructors and students and enable students to expand theirlearning opportunities (Turner 2013) Social media can be used as anew form of communication for reading commenting and discussingwithout any restrictions of time and space in the university classroom(Ebner et al 2010) Following relevant professionals or organisations intheir field of study on social media supports student learning and profes-sional development (Dunlap and Lowenthal 2009) In particularTwitter offers a platform for students to map their learning by askingquestions adding hashtags and compiling lists of feeds which extendsthe classroom and helps develop their public presentation skills(Greenhow and Gleason 2012) One study found that the use of Twitterin class discussion helps strengthen studentsrsquo understandings of professio-nal competencies and behaviours (Hitchcock and Battista 2013)
The use of social media by academics is not without its risksDownsides include copyright issues and that it can be time-consumingmicroblogging contents must be updated frequently to be successful(Bonetta 2007) Despite such challenges recent empirical studies showthat social media have proliferated throughout academia Moran andcolleagues (2011) have conducted a survey with 1920 teaching faculty inthe USA and found that about two-thirds of faculty use at least onesocial media site and that one-third use social media in their class ses-sions Another study of 711 academics worldwide surveyed publicly onTwitter by Lupton (2014) shows that more than 90 per cent of facultywho use social media do so for their work
Scholars can use social media in their research to collaborate withothers across schools and countries in a timely manner share pedagogi-cal practice and build an online research community (Grosseck andHolotescu 2008) Scholars use Twitter to share information resourcesand media related to their work share information about their class-room and students request assistance from and offer suggestions to oth-ers and engage in social commentary (Veletsianos 2012) They can alsoshare links to peer-reviewed resources in order to keep current withtopics in onersquos field of research (Priem and Costello 2010) circulate
Tweeting Social Justice Page 3 of 20
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draft forms of academic work for quick comments and disseminate infor-mation on academic conferences (Ross et al 2011) These activities cre-ate opportunities for academic support outside of existing networks byconnecting users with a wider audience outside of traditional academia(Lupton 2014)
Social media may also change how scholarship is generated anddisseminated For example Twitter posts by the general public have pro-vided scientists with information about earthquakes in real time(Greenhow and Gleason 2014) Twitter also creates the possibilities ofconnecting social work academics worldwide For example the hashtagSWvirtualpal on Twitter was developed to connect social workers glob-ally and was created by academics in the USA and UK The use ofhashtags on Twitter has the potential to expand social workersrsquo under-standing of social work practice in other parts of the world (Hitchcock2016)
Recently a study on social media use across different disciplinesreveals clear disciplinary differences in how scholars use social media(Davis et al 2012) Social work researchers assert that there are distinctreasons to bring social media into their pedagogy Ahmedani and col-leagues (2011) recognise the emergence of a new educational technologyand argue that social workers must be prepared to use these tools wiselyand so social work educators should help students prepare for futurecareers by cultivating social media literacies Robbins and Singer (2014)suggest ways to infuse social media into social work education Theyargue that social media can be used to maximise the time social workstudents spend learning content outside the classroom and get updatedknowledge efficiently For example by following legislators and advo-cacy organisations on Twitter social work students can learn aboutrecent changes in social policies that published textbooks do not containThe authors argue that social work educators should prepare studentsfor integrating technological innovation to best serve clientsAdditionally they suggest that social media can be used by social workacademics for social advocacy For example social work scholars canpost a news item about gender or racial discrimination and provide rele-vant academic content on Twitter
Although most prior research emphasises the importance of under-standing the potential of social media in social work education no stud-ies have examined how academics in social work use social mediagenerally or Twitter specifically Therefore despite some recommenda-tions for social media use in social work education being present in theliterature we know very little about the actual use of Twitter amongsocial work academic faculty This study attempts to address this gap byanswering the following research questions
Page 4 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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To what extent are academics in social work using Twitterprofessionally
What motivations do they have for using Twitter
By answering these questions we hope to offer insights about the use ofsocial media and Twitter among social work academics in the USA thenaddress to what extent Twitter use among social work academics is asso-ciated with improved communication and networking with colleaguesand to what extent Twitter use impacts the dissemination and implemen-tation of social work academicsrsquo work
Method
Instrument
An online survey using Qualtrics survey software was developed bythe authors to answer questions about social work academicsrsquo experiencewith and use of Twitter As a pilot test the survey instrument (seeSupplementary Material) was distributed to seventy-seven faculty mem-bers from a select number of MSW programmes Sixteen faculty memberscompleted the survey Based on feedback from this pilot test the surveywas modified to improve its design (eg including a progress bar)
The final survey included thirty-three questions twenty-five closeditems with pre-coded response options and eight questions that requiredextended written responses In addition to demographics participantswere asked to report on whether they have a Twitter account and toprovide their Twitter IDs that allow access to their tweets used for anon-ymous quotes for this study They were asked about their experiencerelating to a variety of Twitter activities such as frequency of tweetsand retweets number of followers issues they tweet about and motiva-tion to use Twitter This study was approved by the universityInstitutional Review Board
Recruitment and procedure
The online survey was conducted from 2 to 25 February 2016 At firstan invitation e-mail was sent to all assistant associate and full professorsthrough their school e-mails obtained from university websites The invi-tation included a brief description of the survey instructions on how tocomplete it and the link to the survey After the first round tworeminder e-mails were sent to those who had not responded to our invi-tation The survey link closed 21 days after the second reminder e-mailThe response rate of this study was 194 per cent which is consideredreasonable for internet-based surveys (Im and Chee 2004)
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Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
Tweeting Social Justice Page 7 of 20
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
draft forms of academic work for quick comments and disseminate infor-mation on academic conferences (Ross et al 2011) These activities cre-ate opportunities for academic support outside of existing networks byconnecting users with a wider audience outside of traditional academia(Lupton 2014)
Social media may also change how scholarship is generated anddisseminated For example Twitter posts by the general public have pro-vided scientists with information about earthquakes in real time(Greenhow and Gleason 2014) Twitter also creates the possibilities ofconnecting social work academics worldwide For example the hashtagSWvirtualpal on Twitter was developed to connect social workers glob-ally and was created by academics in the USA and UK The use ofhashtags on Twitter has the potential to expand social workersrsquo under-standing of social work practice in other parts of the world (Hitchcock2016)
Recently a study on social media use across different disciplinesreveals clear disciplinary differences in how scholars use social media(Davis et al 2012) Social work researchers assert that there are distinctreasons to bring social media into their pedagogy Ahmedani and col-leagues (2011) recognise the emergence of a new educational technologyand argue that social workers must be prepared to use these tools wiselyand so social work educators should help students prepare for futurecareers by cultivating social media literacies Robbins and Singer (2014)suggest ways to infuse social media into social work education Theyargue that social media can be used to maximise the time social workstudents spend learning content outside the classroom and get updatedknowledge efficiently For example by following legislators and advo-cacy organisations on Twitter social work students can learn aboutrecent changes in social policies that published textbooks do not containThe authors argue that social work educators should prepare studentsfor integrating technological innovation to best serve clientsAdditionally they suggest that social media can be used by social workacademics for social advocacy For example social work scholars canpost a news item about gender or racial discrimination and provide rele-vant academic content on Twitter
Although most prior research emphasises the importance of under-standing the potential of social media in social work education no stud-ies have examined how academics in social work use social mediagenerally or Twitter specifically Therefore despite some recommenda-tions for social media use in social work education being present in theliterature we know very little about the actual use of Twitter amongsocial work academic faculty This study attempts to address this gap byanswering the following research questions
Page 4 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
To what extent are academics in social work using Twitterprofessionally
What motivations do they have for using Twitter
By answering these questions we hope to offer insights about the use ofsocial media and Twitter among social work academics in the USA thenaddress to what extent Twitter use among social work academics is asso-ciated with improved communication and networking with colleaguesand to what extent Twitter use impacts the dissemination and implemen-tation of social work academicsrsquo work
Method
Instrument
An online survey using Qualtrics survey software was developed bythe authors to answer questions about social work academicsrsquo experiencewith and use of Twitter As a pilot test the survey instrument (seeSupplementary Material) was distributed to seventy-seven faculty mem-bers from a select number of MSW programmes Sixteen faculty memberscompleted the survey Based on feedback from this pilot test the surveywas modified to improve its design (eg including a progress bar)
The final survey included thirty-three questions twenty-five closeditems with pre-coded response options and eight questions that requiredextended written responses In addition to demographics participantswere asked to report on whether they have a Twitter account and toprovide their Twitter IDs that allow access to their tweets used for anon-ymous quotes for this study They were asked about their experiencerelating to a variety of Twitter activities such as frequency of tweetsand retweets number of followers issues they tweet about and motiva-tion to use Twitter This study was approved by the universityInstitutional Review Board
Recruitment and procedure
The online survey was conducted from 2 to 25 February 2016 At firstan invitation e-mail was sent to all assistant associate and full professorsthrough their school e-mails obtained from university websites The invi-tation included a brief description of the survey instructions on how tocomplete it and the link to the survey After the first round tworeminder e-mails were sent to those who had not responded to our invi-tation The survey link closed 21 days after the second reminder e-mailThe response rate of this study was 194 per cent which is consideredreasonable for internet-based surveys (Im and Chee 2004)
Tweeting Social Justice Page 5 of 20
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Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
Tweeting Social Justice Page 7 of 20
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
To what extent are academics in social work using Twitterprofessionally
What motivations do they have for using Twitter
By answering these questions we hope to offer insights about the use ofsocial media and Twitter among social work academics in the USA thenaddress to what extent Twitter use among social work academics is asso-ciated with improved communication and networking with colleaguesand to what extent Twitter use impacts the dissemination and implemen-tation of social work academicsrsquo work
Method
Instrument
An online survey using Qualtrics survey software was developed bythe authors to answer questions about social work academicsrsquo experiencewith and use of Twitter As a pilot test the survey instrument (seeSupplementary Material) was distributed to seventy-seven faculty mem-bers from a select number of MSW programmes Sixteen faculty memberscompleted the survey Based on feedback from this pilot test the surveywas modified to improve its design (eg including a progress bar)
The final survey included thirty-three questions twenty-five closeditems with pre-coded response options and eight questions that requiredextended written responses In addition to demographics participantswere asked to report on whether they have a Twitter account and toprovide their Twitter IDs that allow access to their tweets used for anon-ymous quotes for this study They were asked about their experiencerelating to a variety of Twitter activities such as frequency of tweetsand retweets number of followers issues they tweet about and motiva-tion to use Twitter This study was approved by the universityInstitutional Review Board
Recruitment and procedure
The online survey was conducted from 2 to 25 February 2016 At firstan invitation e-mail was sent to all assistant associate and full professorsthrough their school e-mails obtained from university websites The invi-tation included a brief description of the survey instructions on how tocomplete it and the link to the survey After the first round tworeminder e-mails were sent to those who had not responded to our invi-tation The survey link closed 21 days after the second reminder e-mailThe response rate of this study was 194 per cent which is consideredreasonable for internet-based surveys (Im and Chee 2004)
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Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
Tweeting Social Justice Page 7 of 20
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
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Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
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Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
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National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
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Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
Participants
Participants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked social work pro-grammes in the USA as reported by the 2014 US News amp WorldReport This report only surveys MSW-level programmes the terminaldegree in social work We desired to investigate Twitter use amongthose who educate these future leaders of the social work fieldParticipants were recruited from the top-fifty-ranked MSW programmesas reported by the 2014 US News amp World Report The initial samplesize was 1446 faculty members After sending the first-invitation e-mailwe excluded (i) faculty who sent an automatic reply saying they wouldbe out of office more than two weeks (n frac14 18) and (ii) individuals withundeliverable e-mail addresses (nfrac14 18) With a response rate of 194 percent the final sample included 274 participants Over half of therespondents were men (53 per cent) Approximately two-thirds of theparticipants identified as white (6679 per cent) followed by blackAfrican American (985 per cent) and Asian (474 per cent) The aver-age age of the respondents was 4728 years (SD frac14 093) Over half ofthe respondents were working at a public university (54 per cent) fol-lowed by non-profit private university (2847 per cent) for-profit privateuniversity (438 per cent) and liberal arts college (146 per cent)Approximately one-third of the participants were teaching in MSW (30per cent) and PhD (27 per cent) programmes Approximately one-thirdof the respondents were assistant professors (3394 per cent) followedby associate professors (3358 per cent) and full professors (219 percent)
Results
Twitter use among social work academics
Of the 274 faculty members who participated in this study most (n frac14 254927 per cent) had heard of Twitter and approximately half of the partici-pants reported having a Twitter account (532 per cent n frac14 146) Table 1contains the results of a series of chi-square analyses exploring significantsubgroup differences in Twitter usage among the participants Participantsunder the age of fifty years were significantly more likely (583 per cent)to have a Twitter account than participants over the age of fifty years((430 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 239) frac14 557 p frac14 002) Asian participantswere significantly less likely (154 per cent) to report having a Twitteraccount than non-Asian participants ((533 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 240)frac14 708 p frac14 001) Social work faculty teaching exclusively in the macroconcentration were marginally more likely (618 per cent) to havea Twitter account than participants teaching in only the clinical
Page 6 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
Tweeting Social Justice Page 7 of 20
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of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
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Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
concentration ((488 per cent) X2 (1 N frac14 171) frac14 293 p frac14 009) Macro
social work refers to lsquoan essential component of social work practice tar-
geting change in organizations communities and political systemsrsquo
(Pritzker and Applewhite 2015 p 191) while micro or clinical social
work indicates individual-level direct interventionIn terms of other demographic characteristics participants who
reported having a Twitter account did not significantly differ from those
without a Twitter account on gender ethnicity regional location higher-
education setting (ie private versus public university) and career stage
(ie assistant associate full professor)We further analysed the nature of Twitter use among participants who
reported having a Twitter account (see Table 2) One-fifth (199 per
cent n frac14 29) of participants with Twitter accounts reported logging on
to Twitter at least once a day and nearly half logged on at least once a
week (466 per cent n frac14 68) Among those with a Twitter account
roughly one-quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) had twenty-five or fewer fol-
lowers one-quarter (253 per cent n frac14 37) had 26ndash100 followers one-
quarter (240 per cent n frac14 35) had 101ndash500 followers and approximately
one-tenth (116 per cent n frac1417) had more than 500 followers The rest
either did not know how many followers they had (n frac14 17) or did not
answer the question (n frac14 6) The number of followers indicates the level
Table 1 Subgroup differences in Twitter usage among social work academics
N Have a Twitter
account ()
v2
Teaching concentration Macro only 89 618 293dagger
Clinical only 82 488
Gender Male 75 467 273
Female 168 530
Age lt50 years 132 583 557
50 years 107 430
Race White 183 536 163
Black 27 556 023
Asian 13 154 708
Multi-racial 13 385 090
Hispanic 14 714 247
Location North-east 60 500 001
Mid-west 83 530 029
South 60 500 001
West 23 478 008
University ownership Private 90 511 000
Public 154 513
Faculty position Assistant prof 93 516 000
Associate prof 92 533 020
Full prof 60 483 030
daggerplt 010 plt005 plt001
Tweeting Social Justice Page 7 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
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behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
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Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
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Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
of potential audience size (Dow et al 2013) Existing studies measurethe audience size by the number of lsquofollowersrsquo because the more fol-lowers you have on Twitter the people you can reach the more peoplecan read your tweets and the larger effect of your online word of mouth(Ju et al 2014 Rui et al 2013)
When asked to estimate the number of tweets they currently haveroughly a quarter (233 per cent n frac14 34) of the participants did notknow and of those who knew (n frac14 106) half (509 per cent n frac14 54)reported having fifty or fewer tweets 16 per cent (n frac14 17) had 51ndash200tweets 14 per cent (n frac14 15) had 201ndash500 tweets and 189 per cent(n frac14 20) had more than 500 tweets Roughly one-quarter (274 per centn frac14 40) reported following fewer than twenty-five people or organ-isations and over half (541 per cent n frac14 79) reported following fewerthan 100
Table 2 Nature of Twitter usage (N frac14 146)
Frequency Percentage
Number of followers
0ndash25 34 233
26ndash50 16 110
51ndash100 21 144
101ndash200 16 110
201ndash500 19 130
501ndash1000 10 69
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 3 21
I donrsquot know 17 116
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of peopleorgs following
0ndash25 40 274
26ndash50 21 144
51ndash100 18 123
101ndash200 17 116
201ndash500 17 116
501ndash1000 9 62
1001ndash2000 6 41
2000thorn 1 07
I donrsquot know 11 75
Missing values 6 41
Numbers of tweets
0ndash25 43 295
26ndash50 11 75
51ndash100 8 55
101ndash200 9 62
201ndash500 15 103
501ndash1000 6 41
1001ndash2000 4 27
2000thorn 10 69
I donrsquot know 34 233
Missing values 6 41
Page 8 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
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classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
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lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
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Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
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Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
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Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
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Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
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messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
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Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
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Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
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Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
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Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
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Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
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pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
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Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
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Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
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Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
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pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
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Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
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Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
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Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
Motivation to use Twitter among social work academics
Using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 frac14 strongly agree 7 frac14 stronglydisagree) participants were asked to rate their motivation for usingTwitter across eighteen items (see Table 3) The motivations with whichparticipants most strongly agreed were to share resources (M frac14 226SD frac14 127) to network with colleagues (M frac14 229 SD frac14 137) and topromote awareness across an area of study (M frac14 230 SD frac14 140) Themotivations with which participants most strongly disagreed were toexpress their opinions freely in an area of study (M frac14 395 SD frac14 168)and to participate andor debate in an online discussion of an area ofstudy (M frac14 411 SD frac14 195) Following these questions participantswere then asked to identify their biggest motivator Two most frequentlycited motivators were to promote actionawareness of an area of studyand to promote their own scholarly work Participants were also askedto provide an example of this motivation in their own tweeting Suchexamples included tweeting the release of journal articles or features innews media related to their area of study expressing support for newpolicy sharing information that may shift popular opinion or stereo-types advertising about upcoming academic conferences engaging socialwork students in class participation via Twitter tweeting accomplish-ments of students from schools of social work and sharing universityresources with fellow faculty members
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority (582 per cent) of participants with a Twitter accountreported using Twitter as part of their academic work Participants alsoreported that they often tweeted about social justice issues to raiseawareness promote social change and share information and resourcesNearly half of the participants with a Twitter account reported tweeting(482 per cent) or retweeting (488 per cent) about a social justice issueat least a few times per month
Participants were asked to select one topical area of social work aboutwhich they tweeted and retweeted most (see Table 4) They most fre-quently tweeted about the areas of social policy mental health geriat-rics health and racial and ethnic disparities The areas in whichparticipants most frequently and infrequently retweeted were similar incontent to the areas in which they most frequently and infrequentlytweeted
Participants were asked about what type of people or organisationsthey followed on Twitter (see Table 5) The respondents were morelikely to follow users in their professional fields than those with whomthey have personal relations or shared interests Of those who responded
Tweeting Social Justice Page 9 of 20
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Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
wit
ter
(Nfrac14
82
)
Mo
tiva
tio
n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
7frac14
Stro
ng
lyd
isa
gre
e)
Me
an
SDE
xam
ple
Ad
voca
cyP
rom
ote
act
ion
rela
ted
tom
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
25
21
42
No
mo
re
solita
ryco
nfi
ne
me
nt
for
you
thin
fed
era
lp
riso
ns
so
cia
lwo
rk
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsh
ttp
st
cojD
Irvj
Zd
yV
Ad
voca
tefo
ris
sue
sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
He
lpA
ge
d-O
ut
Fost
er
Yo
uth
Est
ab
lish
ing
exp
ert
ise
Pa
rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
H
um
an
Rig
hts
So
cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
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of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
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group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
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Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
Ta
ble
3
Mo
tiva
tio
nfo
ru
sin
gT
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ter
(Nfrac14
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)
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tiva
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n(1frac14
Stro
ng
lya
gre
e
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Stro
ng
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isa
gre
e)
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an
SDE
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ple
Ad
voca
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rom
ote
act
ion
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ted
tom
ya
rea
of
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dy
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No
mo
re
solita
ryco
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nt
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you
thin
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era
lp
riso
ns
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cia
lwo
rk
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gh
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ttp
st
cojD
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Zd
yV
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voca
tefo
ris
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sre
late
dto
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
40
15
4A
Cle
ver
Ca
mp
aig
nto
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lpA
ge
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ut
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er
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uth
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ab
lish
ing
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ert
ise
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rtic
ipa
tea
nd
or
de
ba
tein
on
lin
ed
iscu
ssio
ns
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
41
11
95
Ist
an
dw
ith
ag
ain
st
dis
crim
ina
tio
n
We
mu
stp
ush
ba
cka
ga
inst
ha
te
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um
an
Rig
hts
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cia
lWo
rk
Exp
ress
my
op
inio
nfr
ee
lyin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
95
16
8U
nd
ocu
me
nte
dim
mig
ran
tsla
teto
kn
ow
ab
ou
tle
ad
in
wa
ter
sca
red
tog
et
he
lp
Est
ab
lish
my
exp
ert
ise
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
32
01
78
Mo
reth
an
60
o
fU
Sw
om
en
farm
wo
rke
rse
xpe
rie
nce
sexu
al
ha
rass
me
nt
We
mu
stst
op
Ga
inp
rofe
ssio
na
lst
atu
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y3
16
17
Clim
ate
cha
ng
eis
a
hu
ma
nri
gh
tsis
sue
Soci
alW
ork
mu
st
act
top
reve
nt
hu
ma
nsu
ffe
rin
g
Co
uld
lea
dto
tan
gib
leo
rin
tan
gib
leb
en
efi
tsre
late
dto
my
pro
fess
ion
al
life
27
91
5C
he
cko
ut
this
job
wh
at
ag
rea
to
pp
ort
un
ity
to
en
ha
nce
com
mu
nit
ye
ng
ag
em
en
t
h
igh
er
ed
inst
itu
-
tio
ns
htt
ps
t
cojyG
ssk
Yb
QU
Ne
two
rk
bu
ild
ing
Ne
two
rkw
p
eo
ple
ou
tsid
eo
fm
yfi
eld
30
71
61
Exc
elle
nt
exa
mp
leo
fin
ter-
dis
cip
lin
ary
rese
arc
hw
ith
po
ten
tia
lto
cha
ng
eth
ew
orl
d
Est
ab
lish
ap
rofe
ssio
na
lo
nlin
ep
rese
nce
inre
lati
on
tom
y
are
ao
fst
ud
y
24
01
47
forw
ard
toco
nn
ect
w
pe
op
lein
tere
ste
dcr
ea
tin
g
on
lin
eco
mm
un
ity
toe
nh
an
ce
Ne
two
rkw
ith
colle
ag
ue
s2
29
13
7
RLB
rio
ne
s
lo
veto
he
ar
mo
rea
bo
ut
you
rw
ork
an
d
ide
as
Sha
rin
g
info
rma
tio
n
Ge
to
the
rp
oin
tso
fvi
ew
op
inio
ns
on
vari
ou
sis
sue
sin
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y
30
91
6H
ow
can
we
elim
ina
te
Ch
ild
Po
vert
yin
the
USA
Co
nfe
ren
ces
totw
ee
to
ut
con
ten
tfr
om
the
con
fere
nce
s3
04
19
6lsquoS
oci
al
wo
rke
rsm
ust
wa
lkin
pla
ces
tha
to
the
rp
eo
ple
run
fro
mrsquomdash
Joh
nH
Ja
ckso
n
Sch
ott
Fou
nd
2
01
5A
PM
Pro
mo
tem
yo
wn
sch
ola
rly
wo
rk2
89
15
6Ju
stp
ub
lish
ed
ap
ap
er
wit
hJe
nG
eig
er
on
Pre
gn
an
ta
nd
Pa
ren
tin
g
Jo
urn
al
of
Pu
blic
Re
trie
veu
pto
da
tein
form
ati
on
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
27
31
56
Did
you
kn
ow
can
cer
kills
an
est
ima
ted
8m
illio
np
eo
ple
pe
rye
ar
glo
ba
lly
an
dth
at
tob
acc
ost
ill
lea
ds
inca
usi
ng
can
cer
de
ath
s
Ga
inn
ew
kn
ow
led
ge
inm
ya
rea
of
stu
dy
26
21
51
Mo
rech
ild
ren
are
livi
ng
inp
ove
rty
tha
na
du
lts
So
cia
lwo
rkm
ust
fig
ht
to
en
dp
ove
rty
Sha
ren
ew
sst
ori
es
25
71
31
Ma
tern
al
de
pre
ssio
na
nd
po
vert
yh
ttp
w
ww
wa
shin
gto
n
po
stc
om
wp
-dyn
co
nte
nt
art
icle
20
10
08
26
Pro
mo
tea
wa
ren
ess
of
my
are
ao
fst
ud
y2
30
14
Cre
ati
vity
alife
lin
efo
rp
eo
ple
w
d
em
en
tia
mdashh
elp
sto
spa
rkm
em
ori
es
Sha
rere
sou
rce
s2
26
12
7C
an
ate
xtm
ess
ag
esa
vea
life
T
ech
no
log
ysu
pp
ort
sfo
ur
vict
ims
of
h
um
an
Page 10 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
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half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
(n frac14 133) the majority followed universities and departments (609 percent) advocacy organisations (601 per cent) researchers (571 per cent)news outlets and others in the same field (519 per cent) but fewer than
Table 4 Areas of tweets and retweets
What areas do you tweet
and retweet about most
Tweet
(N frac1481)
n ()
Retweet
(N frac1474)
n ()
Example tweet
Social policy 9 (111) 11 (149) New on httpstco8pxKdRDxAR j CfP
Policy Reviews in Higher Education
Mental health 8 (99) 7 (95) How does the deaths and witnessing the
deaths on video impact mental health
KentSchoolConversation
Geriatrics 7 (86) 5 (68) Letrsquos fix our protective service system to
end elderabuse and assure older adults
are safe at home
Health 7 (86) 4 (54) Neighbourhood formal social organisation
matters for resident health My new
article in HampSW
Racial and ethnic disparities 7 (86) 6 (81) We all have humanrights to life and voice
Itrsquos time to shout blacklivesmatter
socialwork
Child welfare 6 (74) 6 (81) We must address violence amp safety to help
kids thrive in RVAmdashA Jones
RPS_Schools ChildSaversRVA
BridgeRichmond
Poverty 6 (74) 6 (81) Poverty is injustice social exclusion amp dis-
crimination We have a right to dignity
Humanrights socialwork
Education 5 (62) 5 (68) Education gap between rich amp poor is
growing This is a humanrights social-
work emergency
Substance use 5 (62) 2 (28) We are working to reduce youth violence
amp substance use in our community
BridgingtheGapmdashVCUpresident
Research methods 4 (49) 1 (14) clairlemon Anecdotes arenrsquot case studies
Case studies use the scientific method
Evidence-based practice 3 (37) 3 (42) ApplebaummdashGreat suggestions for LTSS
including additional EBPs on worker
training and supervision WHCOA
Violence 3 (37) 3 (42) nabholzj Anger is not the problem
Violence is the problem People should
certainly be angry that AHCA would
uninsure millions
Social entrepreneurship 2 (25) 2 (28) How do we develop the language of sys-
tems entrepreneurship RachelmSinha
secon17
Newspolitics 2 (25) 3 (42) I think I just got whiplash House
Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut
Ethics Office
Non-profits 1 (12) 3 (42) The opportunity in social media for non-
profits RichGreif httpstco
gQX9m0DB0M
Other 6 (74) 7 (95)
AHCA American Health Care Act of 2017
Tweeting Social Justice Page 11 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
half of them followed friends and family (451 per cent) and lifestyle blogs
and outlets (195 per cent) on Twitter Fewer participants used Twitter for
entertainment such as following athletes and comedians (98 per cent)
musicians and bands (90 per cent) and movies and TV (75 per cent)
Discussion
This study is the first to examine Twitter use among social work faculty
members in the USA or worldwide It provides suggestions to social
work researchers and educators for moving the field forward in terms of
using Twitter to support and advance social work education in the era of
the third-generation Web which is marked by increased connectivity
openness and intelligence
Twitter use among social work academics
Roughly half of the 274 participants reported having a Twitter account
compared to 23 per cent of all online adults from the general population
(Duggan 2015) and 105 per cent of faculty from a representative study
Table 5 Types of people or organisations followed on Twitter
Type of people or organisations following on Twitter (multiple choice) Frequency Percentage
Personal Friends amp family 60 451
Lifestyle blogsoutlets 26 195
Celebrities 18 135
Athletes 13 98
Comedians 13 98
Musiciansbands 12 90
Restaurantslocal businesses 10 75
Movies amp TV shows 10 75
Companies 4 30
Notable brands 3 23
Professional Universitiesdepartments 81 609
Advocacy organisations 80 601
Researchers 76 571
News outlets 72 541
Others in my field 69 519
Political organisations 60 451
Government agencies 54 406
Journalists 49 368
Other non-profits 48 360
Politicians 41 308
Authors 40 301
Charities 31 233
Science amp tech content producers 23 173
Professional consultants 16 120
Other 22 165
Page 12 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
of social media use among nearly 8000 faculty at US higher-educationalinstitutions (Seaman and Tinti-Kane 2013) It is plausible that facultyfrom the top MSW programmes in the USA utilise Twitter at a higherrate compared to all higher-education faculty It is also plausible thatthere is selection bias in our sample and faculty with Twitter accountswere more likely to respond to our survey We attempted to address thisas best we could by using rigorous sampling and recruitment methods tosecure as much of a representative sample as possible We used e-mailto recruit participants and 994 per cent of the faculty teaching in theMSW programmes selected for our study had e-mail addresses publiclyavailable on school websites Thus roughly half of our sample did nothave a Twitter account representing a broader array of experiencesamong US social work faculty
Forty per cent of our participants reported not using Twitter for aca-demic work It is likely that some scholars are concerned about thepotential risks of social media such as misunderstanding their messagesin an unexpected way or disadvantages from their institutions Indeedscholars have been disciplined placed on leave or had their job offerrevoked for social media messages they had posted (Bowman 2015)
Faculty in the MSW programmes had relatively small network sizescompared to the general population Over three-quarters of our partici-pants reported having fewer than 500 followers and followees while theaverage Twitter user in the general population had 707 followers as of2016 Twitter users who have a sizable number of followers tend to beopinion leaders who influence other users receiving their tweets(Holmberg and Thelwall 2014 Stewart 2015) Therefore it is plausiblethat academic Twitter users who want to establish their expertise mayhave more followers while those who use Twitter for building networkswithin their field of study are less likely to be motivated to have morefollowers
Similarly to other studies among Twitter users in the general popula-tion (Statista 2016b) and in higher-education settings (Seaman andTinti-Kane 2013) age was negatively associated with Twitter use withyounger social work faculty from our study significantly more likely touse Twitter than older social work faculty Although older adults areless likely to use social media than young adults social media usageamong adults aged sixty-five and older has more than tripled from 11per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2016 (Duggan and Page 2015)Coupled with the fact that Americans with higher-education levels aremore likely to use social media (Duggan and Page 2015) the use ofsocial media platforms including Twitter will likely increase amongolder faculty in the coming years
Faculty teaching exclusively in the macro concentration were margin-ally more likely to use Twitter than faculty teaching only clinical prac-tice The connection between the utility of Twitter in terms of unifying a
Tweeting Social Justice Page 13 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
group of followers around a particular social issue and the goal of macrosocial work to impact community-level or organisational-level change islogical Twitter can be used to support community and connectionsamong large groups of people around shared interests to gather andshare information and to establish common ground (Chen 2011)However we did not find significant difference between macro- andmicro-concentration Twitter users regarding the motivations and behav-iours of their Twitter use
Asian faculty was significantly less likely to use Twitter as comparedto their non-Asian counterparts Given the fact that Asians comprise thelargest group of Twitter users globally (Statista 2016b) this trend mayseem somewhat surprising However the majority of Twitter users inAsian countries may be adolescents and young adults rather than univer-sity faculty For example a study examining teenagers as a percentageof active Twitter users in select countries found that 87 per cent ofactive Twitter users in the Philippines were teenagers whereas only 18per cent of active Twitter users in Canada were teenagers (Statista2016a)
Other demographic characteristics such as gender ethnicity andregional location were not significantly associated with difference inhaving a Twitter account Studies in the general population indicate thatthere is little difference in Twitter use based on ethnicity with blacks(28 per cent) and Hispanics (28 per cent) marginally more likely thanwhites (20 per cent) to use Twitter (Duggan 2015) Findings from ourstudy mirror this trend in that minorities were more likely to useTwitter than whites However the differences we observed betweenblack versus non-black Hispanic versus non-Hispanic and white versusnon-white participants were statistically insignificant
Motivation to use Twitter
Participants from our study reported that their strongest motivations touse Twitter were to participate in online discussions to share resour-ces to network with colleagues and to promote awareness across anarea of study These results indicate that Twitter provides social workscholars with an online platform where they can discuss academicissues with others across schools and countries in a timely manner(Grosseck and Holotescu 2008) and thereby develop a research com-munity in an open but less formal atmosphere than the university set-ting (Kirkup 2010)
When asked to identify their biggest motivator our participants mostfrequently cited promoting actionawareness of an area of study and pro-moting their own scholarly work consistently with Lupton (2014)Regarding the promotion of onersquos work within academia Priem and
Page 14 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
colleagues (2012) propose that social media may also be used to meas-ure scholarly impact suggesting that lsquoldquoalternative metricsrdquo orldquoaltmetricsrdquo build on information from social media use and could beemployed side-by-side with citationsmdashone tracking formal acknowl-edged influence and the other tracking unintentional and informalldquoscientific street credrdquorsquo (p 1) Relatedly the use of social media sitessuch as Twitter facilitates an immediate rapid distribution and promo-tion of onersquos academic work For example Priem and Costello (2010)find that 39 per cent of Twitter citations refer to articles less one weekold and 15 per cent refer to articles published that day
How social work academics use Twitter
The majority of our participants who have a Twitter account used it aspart of their academic work connecting with users in their professionalfields Nearly half of them regularly tweeted or retweeted about a socialjustice issue such as social policy racial and ethnic disparities and pov-erty Participants reported tweeting about social justice issues in order toraise awareness promote social change and share information andresources The use of Twitter to promote social justice is reflective ofthe National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2008)which identifies the promotion of social justice as one of its core ethicalprinciples lsquoSocial workers pursue social change particularly with and onbehalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of peopleSocial workersrsquo social change efforts are focused primarily on issuesof poverty unemployment discrimination and other forms of socialinjusticersquo
Indeed the ability for social work academics to reach large groups ofpeople across disciplines and with varying value systems makes Twitteran ideal conduit for increasing awareness and promoting change relatedto social justice issues It is often challenging for academics to maketheir work accessible known and translatable across disciplines andbeyond academia (Proctor et al 2011) and Twitter provides an opportu-nity to extend academicsrsquo reach and impact to promote social justice(Priem and Costello 2010)
While the majority of participants from our study reported that theyused Twitter for online discussions sharing resources networking withcolleagues and promoting awareness across an area of study few partici-pants discussed the use of Twitter as a teaching tool However this mayrepresent opportunities for advancing the use of social media amongsocial work academics in the USA Grosseck and Holotescu (2008) pro-vide a framework for using Twitter in educational settings They suggestusing Twitter in the classroom in order to build a greater sense of com-munity explore collaborative writing gauge studentsrsquo responses to
Tweeting Social Justice Page 15 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
classroom material and lectures foster collaboration with similar learn-ers across schools and countries encourage reflection and discussionand share supplemental research and resources They suggest that suchactivities may facilitate richer and more engaged classroom dynamics asmore students with varying communication styles may be drawn intoclassroom dialogue academic staff may have a better pulse on the edu-cational needs of the students and students may experience a closer con-nection with the faculty
Limitations
There are several limitations to our study First there may be someselection bias as it is possible that social work academics with Twitteraccounts were more likely to respond to the survey Second our dataare cross-sectional which constrains our ability to examine the patternof social work scholarsrsquo social media behaviour or infer causal relation-ship Third our study is limited to top MSW programmes in the USAwhich limits our generalisability to both other social work degree pro-grammes (eg BSW and DSW) and other countries Fourth the numberof Asian and Hispanic participants from our study is low and so our dis-cussion surrounding Twitter use based on raceethnicity should be inter-preted with caution
Notwithstanding these limitations our study provides a significantcontribution to the field of social work education As one of the earlystudies to examine Twitter use among social work academics ourexploratory study lays a good foundation for future research investigat-ing the benefits strategies and impacts of Twitter use among social workfaculty Expanded research may provide guidance to social work aca-demics regarding the most effective usage of Twitter particularly as itpertains to the promotion of social justice A greater stronger presenceof social work academics utilising Twitter effectively may serve toadvance our field and the areas of social justice our field represents
Further research
Our exploratory study lays the foundation for additional researchregarding the effectiveness of Twitter use among social work facultySuch research may include an investigation of the outcomes associatedwith Twitter use among social work faculty For example futureresearch questions may include (i) To what extent is Twitter use amongsocial work academics associated with improved communication andnetworking with colleagues from within onersquos field and across fields(ii) To what extent does Twitter use impact the citation dissemination
Page 16 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
and implementation of social work academicsrsquo work Future studies mayutilise publicly available Twitter data rather than relying on self-reported survey data which would provide credible evidence of partici-pantsrsquo behaviour on social media Future research could also include aqualitative investigation about the kind of scholarly benefits (eg inter-national network and resulting in research project) or barriers (eg lackof time privacy concern copyright issues) social work scholars identifywith social media as well as quantitative research that examines whatfactors influence social work academicsrsquo adoption and use of socialmedia
Additionally the relationship between the promotion of social justiceand Twitter use among social work faculty warrants further research Inlight of our finding that many social work academics use Twitter to pro-mote social justice future research could explore (i) the extent to whichsocial work academicsrsquo attitudes towards social justice are associatedwith Twitter use and (ii) the extent to which Twitter use impacts theattitudes of others towards social justice issues
References
Ahmedani B K Harold R D Fitton V A and Shifflet E D (2011) lsquoWhat ado-
lescents can tell us Technology and the future of social work educationrsquo Social
Work Education 30(7) pp 830ndash46
Antheunis M L Tates K and Nieboer T E (2013) lsquoPatientsrsquo and health professio-
nalsrsquo use of social media in health care Motives barriers and expectationsrsquo
Patient Education and Counseling 92(3) pp 426ndash31
Berzin S C Singer J and Chan C (2015) lsquoPractice innovation through technology
in the digital age A grand challenge for social workrsquo October available online at
httpaaswsworggrand-challenges-initiative12-challenges (accessed 7 July 2017)
Best P Manktelow R and Taylor B J (2016) lsquoSocial work and social media
Online help-seeking and the mental well-being of adolescent malesrsquo British
Journal of Social Work 46(1) pp 257ndash76
Bonetta L (2007) lsquoScientists Enter the Blogospherersquo Cell 129(3) pp 443ndash5
Bowman T D (2015) lsquoDifferences in personal and professional tweets of scholarsrsquo
Aslib Journal of Information Management 67(3) pp 356ndash71
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016ndash17 Edition
Social Workers US Department of Labor available online at httpswwwblsgov
oohcommunity-and-social-servicesocial-workershtm (accessed 7 July 2017)
Chen G M (2011) lsquoTweet this A uses and gratifications perspective on how active
Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with othersrsquo Computers in Human
Behavior 27 pp 755ndash62
Cheston C C Flickinger T E and Chisolm M S (2013) lsquoSocial media use in medi-
cal education A systematic reviewrsquo Academic Medicine 88(6) pp 893ndash901
Davis C H Deil-Amen R Rios-Aguilar C and Gonzalez Canche M S (2012)
lsquoSocial media in higher education A literature review and research directionsrsquo
report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University
Tweeting Social Justice Page 17 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
Dow P A Adamic L A and Friggeri A (2013) lsquoThe anatomy of large Facebook
cascadesrsquo ICWSM 1(2) p 12
Duggan M and Page D (2015) lsquoMobile messaging and social media 2015rsquo Pew
Research Center available online at httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-
messaging-and-social-media-2015 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Duggan M (2015) lsquoMobile Messaging and Social Meida 2015rsquo Available online at
httpwwwpewinternetorg20150819mobile-messaging-and-social-media-2015
(accessed December 2017)
Dunlap J C and Lowenthal P R (2009) lsquoHorton hears a tweetrsquo Educause
Quarterly 32(4) pp 1ndash11
Ebner M Lienhardt C Rohs M and Meyer I (2010) lsquoMicro-blogs in higher edu-
cation A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learningrsquo Computers
and Education 55 pp 92ndash100
Faculty Focus (2010) Twitter in Higher Education 2010 Usage Habits and Trends of
Todayrsquos College Faculty Madison WI Magna Publications Inc
Fox J (2012) lsquoCan blogging change how ecologists share ideas In economics it
already hasrsquo Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5(2) pp 74ndash7
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2012) lsquoTwitteracy Tweeting as a new literary prac-
ticersquo The Educational Forum 76 pp 464ndash78
Greenhow C and Gleason B (2014) lsquoSocial scholarship Reconsidering scholarly
practices in the age of social mediarsquo British Journal of Educational Technology
45(3) pp 392ndash402
Grosseck G and Holotescu C (2008) lsquoCan we use Twitter for educational activitiesrsquo
in 4th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education
April Bucharest Romania
Guo C and Saxton G D (2014) lsquoTweeting social change How social media are
changing nonprofit advocacyrsquo Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(1)
pp 57ndash79
Hitchcock L (2016) lsquoSWvirtualpal Hashtagging for connectionrsquo 24 September
available online at httpwwwlaureliversonhitchcockorg20160924swvirtualpal-
hashtagging-for-connection (accessed 18 December 2017)
Hitchcock L I and Battista A (2013) lsquoSocial media for professional practice
Integrating Twitter with social work pedagogyrsquo Journal of Baccalaureate Social
Work 18(Suppl 1) pp 33ndash45
Holmberg K and Thelwall M (2014) lsquoDisciplinary differences in Twitter scholarly
communicationrsquo Scientometrics 101(2) pp 1027ndash42
Im E O and Chee W (2004) lsquoRecruitment of research participants through the
Internetrsquo Computers Informatics Nursing 22(5) pp 289ndash97
Ju A Jeong S H and Chyi H I (2014) lsquoWill social media save newspapers
Examining the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platformsrsquo
Journalism Practice 8(1) pp 1ndash17
Kirkup G (2010) lsquoAcademic blogging Academic practice and academic identityrsquo
London Review of Education 8(1) pp 75ndash84
Lupton D (2014) lsquoFeeling better connected Academicsrsquo use of social mediarsquo
University of Canberra available online at httpswwwcanberraeduauabout-uc
facultiesarts-designattachments2pdfn-and-mrcFeeling-Better-Connected-report-
finalpdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
McArthur J A and Bostedo-Conway K (2012) lsquoExploring the relationship between
student- instructor interaction on Twitter and student perception of teacher
Page 18 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
behaviorsrsquo International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
24(3) pp 286ndash92
Moran M Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2011) lsquoTeaching learning and sharing
How todayrsquos higher education faculty use social mediarsquo Pearson Learning
Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group April available online at http
filesericedgovfulltextED535130pdf (accessed 18 December 2017)
National Association of Social Workersrsquo Code of Ethics (2017) Available online
at httpswwwsocialworkersorgAboutEthicsCode-of-Ethics (accessed December
2017)
Noorden R V (2014) lsquoOnline collaboration Scientists and the social networkrsquo 15
August available online at httpswwwnaturecomnewsonline-collaboration-scien
tists-and-the-social-network-115711 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Priem J and Costello K L (2010) lsquoHow and why scholars cite on Twitterrsquo
Proceedings of the ASIST Annual Meeting p 47
Priem J Piwowar H A and Hemminger B M (2012) lsquoAltmetrics in the wild
Using social media to explore scholarly impactrsquo available online at httparxivorg
html12034745 (accessed 18 December 2017)
Pritzker S and Applewhite S R (2015) lsquoGoing ldquomacrordquo Exploring the careers of
macro practitionersrsquo Social Work 60 pp 191ndash9
Proctor E Silmere H Raghavan R Hovmand P Aarons G Bunger A and
Hensley M (2011) lsquoOutcomes for implementation research Conceptual distinc-
tions measurement challenges and research agendarsquo Administration and Policy in
Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 38 pp 65ndash76
Robbins S P and Singer J B (2014) lsquoFrom the editormdashThe medium is the message
Integrating social media and social work educationrsquo Journal of Social Work
Education 50(3) pp 387ndash90
Ross C Terras C Warwick M and Welsh A (2011) lsquoEnabled backchannel
Conference Twitter use by digital humanistsrsquo Journal of Documentation 67(2)
pp 214ndash37
Rui H Liu Y and Whinston A (2013) lsquoWhose and what chatter matters The
effect of tweets on movie salesrsquo Decision Support Systems 55(4) pp 863ndash70
Schriger D L Chehrazi A C Merchant R M and Altman D G (2011) lsquoUse of
the internet by print medical journals in 2003 to 2009 A longitudinal observatio-
nal studyrsquo Annals of Emergency Medicine 57(2) pp 153ndash60
Seaman J and Tinti-Kane H (2013) lsquoSocial media for teaching and learning
Annual survey of social media use by higher education facultyrsquo Pearson
Available online at httpwwwpearsonlearningsolutionscomassetsdownloads
reportssocial-media-for-teaching-and-learning-2013-reportpdfview=FitH0
(accessed December 2017)
Statista (2016a) lsquoDistribution of Twitter users worldwide from 2012 to 2018 by
regionrsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics303684regional-Twitter-
user-distribution (accessed 18 December 2017)
Statista (2016b) lsquoNumber of Twitter users in the United States as of January 2015 by
age group (in millions)rsquo available online at httpwwwstatistacomstatistics
398152us-Twitter-user-age-groups (accessed 18 December 2017)
Stewart B (2015) lsquoOpen to influence What counts as academic influence in
scholarly networked Twitter participationrsquo Learning Media and Technology
40(3) pp 287ndash309
Tweeting Social Justice Page 19 of 20
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-
Turner L M (2013) lsquoEncouraging professional growth among social work students
through literature assignments Narrative literaturersquos capacity to inspire professio-
nal growth and empathyrsquo British Journal of Social Work 43(5) pp 853ndash71
Twitter UsageCompany Fact (2016) 31 March available online at httpsabout
Twittercomcompany (accessed 18 December 2017)
Veletsianos G (2012) lsquoHigher education scholarsrsquo participation and practices on
Twitterrsquo Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 28(4) pp 336ndash49
Page 20 of 20 Johanna K P Greeson et al
Downloaded from httpsacademicoupcombjswadvance-article-abstractdoi101093bjswbcx1464811938by gueston 18 January 2018View publication statsView publication stats
- bcx146-TF1
- bcx146-TF2
- bcx146-TF3
- bcx146-TF4
-