It is important that researchers are socially savvy!!

Academic effort is in abundance in the life of researchers and it’s no use if all the effort remains hidden and doesn’t come in public eye. The more is the visibility of the work of a researcher greater is the enrichment of his work. A lot of universities have identified this and therefore are far more focussed than before in establishing their public presence. But some amount of endeavour is expected from the end of the researcher as well on regular basis and it surely has a lot of positive impact on their lives. This positive impact is not restricted to their professional life only but has a positive impact on their personal lives as well.

Internet gives innumerable opportunities to people to interact with others. There are community groups, industries, focussed groups and they have their own special and focused interest area. If a researcher involves himself here, a positive relation can help him to have a lot of   opportunities, ideas and also enhance their professional network in many ways.  If you are socially savvy on different platforms, digitally and otherwise, you would expand your audience and at the same time a leave an impression about yourself and your work potential. Always remember that networking is very important for researchers and each and every contact could be the gateway to newer and better opportunities.

In addition to giving you multiple and diverse platforms, being socially active and savvy is a great motivation booster as well. Feeling demotivated is a phase that comes in the life of the most expert of researchers and often isolation is the cause of this.  But if you simultaneously work around establishing your presence on a public platform, there is no way that your morale would go down and you would be able to always find one or the other source to draw your inspiration. You also get a vent to share your frustrations and joy, thus subtracts your sorrows and multiplies your joys.

Being socially active as a topic remains incomplete if we don’t talk of social media and the kind of role it plays in people’s social engagements.  Various social networking sites such a twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook are great platforms for discussing experiences and achievements. Each of these option has its own benefits and one should not miss onto it.

Researchers must always remember that research, academia and public presence go hand in hand. You cannot move ahead unless you use all of them to your advantage. So what are you waiting for?