Finding out the real value of social media

I promote Twitter and Linked in to students and graduates as a great way of widening their networks and revealing job opportunities but hadn't really given much thought to how useful it can be to me as a researcher. Linked in groups can immediately identify professionals in a particular area- practice or geographical - that can from part of my research sample.  

Through my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts I have now identified the first 5 participants for my research and as a bonus will be able to talk in my thesis about the use of social media tools as a way of identifying a sample. This LSE guide to using social media in research covers areas such as building your following and managing your profile; using Twitter to maximise the impact of your research project and making the most of Twitter alongside your own blog.