As you might be aware, Peritoneal Dialysis International (PDI) has ventured into social media with new Facebook and Twitter accounts. Although many people see social media as a platform to interact with friends, these tools are increasingly being used to promote communication at a professional level. Why does PDI need social media?
We want to connect with our readers: The journal and its readers share a passion: to understand and improve outcomes in peritoneal dialysis. Social media promotes a 2-way communication between us, the journal, and you the reader. Opportunity exists for both of us to learn.
Expanding the reach of PDI: We recognize that potential readers cannot continually scan the horizon for every new development. Through social media, PDI can reach potential readers directly through our followers or indirectly though their promotion of our content to others (like re-tweets, see below).
We recognize the new ways the research we publish has impact: Authors and journals are moving beyond impact factor, with new tools to measure the reach and impact of publications. Social media informs measures like Altmetric scores (http://www.altmetric.com/) for journal papers.
Figure 1 —
PDI uses Twitter to share pertinent figures and tables from the full text, including papers in press.
Our investment in social media is as much about benefitting you, the reader, as it is us, the journal. If you currently use Facebook or Twitter to keep abreast of what the people you connect with socially are doing, the benefits of following PDI might not be instantly obvious:
Time is precious and you cannot read everything: Having a social media account allows you to bring together a number of potential sources of information to one screen. Often platforms like Twitter have limits on how much we can write, making digesting all this information quick.
Research and the discussion around it are fast-paced: Publishing takes time and you cannot make it to every conference. Conferences often have their own Twitter hashtag, which essentially generates a channel of all the tweets about the conference. This is rapidly becoming the way delegates discuss conference material and is useful if you are missing a parallel session.
You have your own take on research and, along with the rest of the renal community, we want to hear it. Social media is instantaneous, giving you the opportunity to share your thoughts on the latest research in a few keystrokes, on a platform accessible to all.
It is quite common for people to use Facebook for their private life, and use Twitter as their work persona. New to Twitter? Check out our simple tips in Table 1. We curate a list on Twitter of people who are vocal about peritoneal dialysis research. It is a quick and easy place to start. We hope you will join us on Facebook or Twitter soon.
TABLE 1.
Simple Twitter Tips
Disclosures
JF is funded by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Charitable trust to conduct and promote research.