This week’s guest post comes from the KT Core-ner, NeuroDevNet’s KT Blog. It was first published on February 1, 2016 and is reposted here with permission.
This past week on Wednesday January 27, 2016 NeuroDevNet’s KT Core hosted a one hour interactive webinar entitled “Social Media for Knowledge Mobilization” featuring KT Core Lead, Dr. David Phipps. David has been blogging since 2008 and is active on Twitter and LinkedIn as well (@researchimpact 6,950 followers, ResearchImpact Linked In group 550 members, Mobilize This! blog www.researchimpact.ca/blog over 150,000 views from 149 countries). This was an event offered to NeuroDevNet researchers and trainees, and drew 33 participants. Topics covered included: the benefits of using social media, how to build a social media strategy, selecting which social media platforms to use, and how to name and design your profile. The slides are available on the NeuroDevNet slideshare account:
[slideshare id=57579228&doc=20160115ndnphippswebinarsocmed4ktfinal4forslideshare-160127213950]
For those who were unable to attend the live event, the recording is available on the NeuroDevNet YouTube Channel:
A link to the KT Core’s publication, the “Social Media Guide of Guides” was provided as a resource for those interested in learning more about how to use KT for dissemination and stakeholder engagement. The Social Media Guide of Guides is an annotated bibliography of the most relevant resources for researchers to learn how to use social media for professional purposes, and is arranged from beginner to advanced.
The event evaluation (n=15) yielded very positive results. In sum:
-100% of respondents said they would use the knowledge they gained from the webinar
-On a scale from 0 (poor) -100 (Excellent), David was rated at an average of 93.3% as a presenter
-On a scale from 0 (poor) -100 (Excellent), David’s knowledge about the use of social media for knowledge translation was rated at an average of 94.07%
-Participants reported that on a scale of 0 (Not at all) -100 (A lot), their knowledge about the use of social media for KT has increased by an average of 70.27%
Participants said the best part of the webinar was:
“The interactive component (e.g. questions, polls)”
“David’s knowledge, presentation skills, and responses to questions”
“Providing the information online during the webinar but the file to download after to read further”
“Breaking down how to think of strategy and selecting the right tools to reach objectives”
“I found the entire presentation very helpful. I really benefitted from the portion on how to determine which social media avenues to pursue as well as how to increase traffic to your channel.”
When participants were asked about the things they learned in this webinar that they will apply/do, they said:
“Look at the guide of guides!”
“Streamline my use of social media for KT based on the suggestions.”
“Get on twitter. Make a plan.”
“Finding which channels have traffic and becoming active in the current conversation as opposed to waiting for people to find us.”
“Write a little more confidently on KT initiatives for funding applications.”
Requests for future webinar topics included (in no particular order):
– Intro to using twitter
– Specifics regarding research blogs, twitter, facebook page that is relevant to target audience including concrete examples of the use of some popular social media for dissemination
– Tips and tricks (e.g. optimal times during the day that you should post/tweet)
– Writing KT plans for grant applications: what to include and what to avoid
If you are a NeuroDevNet researcher or trainee and would like a consultation about the use of social media for knowledge mobilization/translation, or if you have a suggestion for a future webinar topic or tool (such as a guide) that we could create to help you in your work, please contact the KT Core.
by: Anneliese Poetz, KT Manager, NeuroDevNet