Rules of engagement

Participants were asked to indicate the frequency and type of usage they made of social media and indicated that they were highly engaged: the majority (91%) reported that they use social media tools more than once a day (Fig. 7), with no participants reporting use of social media fewer than several times a week.

Figure 7: Graph showing responses to multiple-choice question 4: “How often do you use social media?”. Many options went unselected as participants in this research indicated they were very frequent social media users.

Participants were also asked to estimate the percentage of time that they use social media in a professional capacity (question 5) with a free text box and provided. These responses have been clustered into ranges for comparison (Fig 8). No particular percentage dominates though most participants report usage of social media in their professional roles or activities. The relevance of social media to professional life was further reinforced by responses to question 6, asking participants whether they found, through social media, information and links to resources that are useful in their professional life (Fig 9): 43 of the 44 participants indicated that they did.

Figure 8: Chart showing clustered responses to question 5: “Estimate what percentage of that use of social media is in a professional capacity”. The frequency of response is shown on the x-axis with estimated percentage ranges shown on the y-axis.

Figure 9: Pie chart showing responses to question 6: “Do you find information and links to resources through social media that are useful to your professional life?”. The overwhelming majority (98% of responses) indicated that they did.

Given the amount of time and energy participants are investing in interactions in these spaces in professional contexts it is perhaps not surprising that complex forms of etiquette are emerging, particularly around the exchange of information and related learning activities. For instance in Dan’s reflection on the process of sharing and exchanging knowledge in his professional use of social media he refers to patterns of shifting authority:

Dan: The work I do on a day to day basis is fun. I love sharing what I know (for "free") with others in my network - in which case I'm helping someone else learn. But of course it works the other way too. We all have a degree of expertise, and authority is fluid - it moves to whoever is the expert in the current situation.

Dan hints at the importance of authenticity and reputation in the sharing of knowledge and information. Kate similarly reflects on the idea that authority is earned and judged through the nature of what is shared in these spaces:

Kate: I've followed people after they also tweeted during an event (kind of etiquette) and then found that actually, they send much more useful links and thoughtful tweets about work than I first thought they would - if that makes sense? I suspect this is a case of many people being shy in public, but a lot more confident on twitter.

Such exchanges and shifting statuses connect to the anthropological concepts of gifts and gift economies.

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