Following a short informal meeting with my supervisor today, I thought about the fact that he knows all about my social media involvement. Apparently, people pay attention online and do talk about it. He told me that according to another, I am very visible online.
I've only just gotten involved heavily over the last few months, but I already can see the benefits. If someone who is not actively on the internet can still hear about someone's web presence, that's a good thing. I think that this is the way academia should go. Over the time of getting involved on twitter and starting this blog, I'm expanded my network extensively.
This has also had an impact on my PhD thesis. I'm using varied approaches and looking at things through the perspective of other disciplines, aided along by the people whom I follow and regularly interact with. This has increased my potential for multidisciplinarity and will boost my professional development. This impacts grants (as there is a large push towards collaboration in many fields), my teaching capabilities and my communication skills.
I encourage others to really get involved. I travel a lot and it's made me feel grounded within the academic community and has really opened my mind... And it really does get noticed. Who knows what it could lead to!
