If I tweet will you cite later? Follow-up on the effect of social media exposure on article downloads and citations

Abstract

Objectives We previously reported that random assignment of scientific articles to a social media exposure intervention did not have an effect on article downloads and citations. In this paper, we investigate whether longer observation time after exposure to a social media intervention has altered the previously reported results. Methods For articles published in the International Journal of Public Health between December 2012 and December 2014, we updated article download and citation data for a minimum of 24-month follow-up. We re-analysed the effect of social media exposure on article downloads and citations. Results There was no difference between intervention and control group in terms of downloads (p = 0.72) and citations (p= 0.30) for all papers and when we stratified by open access status. Conclusions Longer observation time did not increase the relative differences in the numbers of downloads and citations between papers in the social media intervention group and papers in the control group. Traditional impact metrics based on citations, such as impact factor, may not capture the added value of social media for scientific publications.

Профессиональное Продвижение Преподавателей Высшей Школы В Виртуальных Социальных Сетях

“…Использование социальных сетей содействует непрерывному профессиональному развитию и презентации результатов профессиональной деятельности профессорско-преподавательского состава [Klein, Niebuhr, D'Alessandro, 2013]. Среди исследователей получает широкое распространение практика размещения в персональных аккаунтах отсылки к полным текстам научных статей [Ibrahim, 2018;Johannsson, Selak, 2020], что позитивно отражается на показателях цитирования научных работ пользователя [Tonia et al, 2020;Kunze et al, 2020]. Отдельного исследовательского интереса заслуживает рассмотрение возможностей для женщин в профессиональном академическом развитии [Lozano Cabezas, Iglesias Martínez, Martínez Ruiz, 2014].…”

The impact of Twitter promotion on future citation rates: The #TweetTheJournal study

“…A randomized trial on articles receiving SoMe exposure from Circulation showed no increase on the article page view [5] , [9] . Also studies outside the cardiovascular field could not confirm a significant effect of SoMe exposure on traditional metrics as article citation rates [7] , [10] . or demonstrated only very weak associations [11] , [12] , [13] .…”

Reflecting on the Viability of Twitter as Tool in the Postgraduate Supervision Process

“…This study indicated that academic libraries' tweets were of interest to intermediaries and key role players in the academic field such as university organizations, local public organizations, and information professions. Also within this information-theoretic focus, it's meaningful to note many journals are reporting the "Altmetric"-a measure of the social media reach specifically of published papers [see Publons, for example, and Tonia et al (2020)]. The possibility of Twitter being implemented as a more serious contender as an academic social network space, is therefore likely and potentially exciting [see also Ngai et al (2015)], with particular emphasis by McPherson et al (2015) on Twitter as an informal learning space.…”