Using Twitter™ to drive research impact: A discussion of strategies, opportunities and challenges

International Journal of Nursing Studies

Volumn 59, Issue , 2016, Pages 15-26

  Schnitzler, Katy ^a   Davies, Nigel ^b   Ross, Fiona ^c,d   Harris, Ruth ^e  

^a KINGSTON UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE   (United Kingdom)

^c ST GEORGE'S UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^d HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY   (United Kingdom)

^e KING'S COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Dissemination; Research impact; Social media; Social networking; Twitter

Indexed keywords

DOCTOR PATIENT RELATION; HUMAN; INTERNET; NURSING RESEARCH; PHYSICIAN; SCIENTIST; SOCIAL MEDIA; SOCIAL NETWORK; HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH; INFORMATION DISSEMINATION;

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH; INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; SOCIAL MEDIA;

EID: 84959450063     PISSN: 00207489     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.02.004     Document Type: Note

References (70)

1. Antheunis M.L., Tates K., Nieboer T.E. Patients' and health professionals' use of social media in health care: motives, barriers and expectations. Patient Educ. Couns. 2013, 92(3):426-431.
2. Archibald M.M., Clark A.M. Twitter and nursing research: how diffusion of innovation theory can help uptake. J. Adv. Nurs. 2014, 70(3):3-5.
3. Bauman P. Number of Doctors and Nurses on Twitter 2010, Available at: http://healthissocial.com/twitter/number-of-doctors-and-nurses-on-twitter/ (accessed 12.06.15).
4. Baynes G. Scientometrics, bibliometrics, altmetrics: some introductory advice for the lost and bemused. Insights 2012, 25(3):311-315.
5. Biswas A., Kirchherr J. Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a scholar's presence in popular media. LSE The Impact Blog 2015, April 9, Available at:, (accessed 12.06.15). http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/04/09/academic-promotion-scholars-popular-media/.
6. Boyd D.M., Ellison N.B. Social network sites: definition, history and scholarship. J. Comput.-Mediat. Commun. 2008, 13:210-230.
7. Burke-Garcia A., Scally G. Trending now: future directions in digital media for the public health sector. J. Public Health 2014, 36(4):527-534.
8. Cain J., Chretien K. Exploring social media's potential in interprofessional education. J. Res. Interprofes. Pract. Educ. 2013, 3(2):1-7.
9. Chinn T., Foord D. Celebrities and Trolls. . . the many myths of Twitter for nurses. . . busted!. NHS Employers 2014, June 30, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). http://www.nhsemployers.org/blog/2014/06/the-many-myths-of-twitter-for-nurses.
10. Chinn T. Blogshot reflections 2015, June 13, Available at: https://mobile.twitter.com/AgencyNurse/status/609637100904927233 (accessed 25.07.15).
11. Clark A.M., Thompson D.R. Have research assessment exercises improved the quality of nursing research?. J. Adv. Nurs. 2015, 10.1111/jan.12751.
12. Department of Health Compassion in Practice - nursing, midwifery and care staff: our vision and strategy 2012, Department of Health/NHS Commissioning Board, Leeds, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/compassion-in-practice.pdf.
13. Department of Health PM Announces New Focus on Quality and Nursing Care. Press Releases - GOV.UK, 6 January 2012, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-new-focus-on-quality-and-nursing-care.
14. Department of Health Report of the Mid Staffordshire Foundation NHS Trust Public Inquiry (Chair Robert Francis QC), Volumes 1-3. HC-898-I-III 2013, The Stationery Office, London, Available at:, http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/report (accessed 28.09.15). http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150407084003/.
15. Ellison N.B. Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship. J. Comput.-Mediat. Commun. 2007, 13(1):210-230.
16. Epstein D., Farina C., Heidt J. The value of words: narrative as evidence in policy making. Evid. Policy 2014, 10(2):243-258.
17. Eysenbach G. Can tweets predict citations? Metrics of social impact based on twitter and correlation with traditional metrics of scientific impact. J. Med. Internet Res. 2011, 13(4):e123.
18. Fahlberg B. Leveraging social media to Facilitate Recruitment and Dissemination in Doctoral Research. Off. J. Int. Netw. Doctoral Educ. Nurs. 2015, 3(1):10-14.
19. Ferguson C. It's time for the nursing profession to leverage social media. J. Adv. Nurs. 2013, 69(4):745-747.
20. George R. Friending Facebook? A minicourse on the use of social media by health professionals. J. Contin. Educ. Health Prof. 2011, 31(3):215-219.
21. Grajales F.J., Sheps S., Ho K., Novak-Lauscher H., Eysenbach G. Social media: a review and tutorial of applications in medicine and health care. J. Med. Internet Res. 2014, 16(2):e13.
22. Grant J. The nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact: An initial analysis of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 impact case studies 2015, Available at:, (accessed 20.08.15). http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2015/Analysis,of,REF,impact/Analysis_of_REF_impact.pdf.
23. Harris R., Sims S., Parr J., Davies N. Impact of 12 h shift patterns in nursing: a scoping review. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 2015, 52(2):605-634.
24. Harris R., Gourlay S., Ross F., Sims S., Levenson R. Intentional rounding in hospital wards: What works, for whom and in what circumstances? Research protocol (Online) 2014, National Institute for Health Research, HS&DR project no: 13/07/87, Available at:, (accessed 06.05.15). http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/hsdr/130787.
25. Harris R., Kelly D., Hunt J.A., Plant H., Kelley K., Richardson A., Sitzia J. Accessing elite nurses for research: reflections on the theoretical and practical issues of telephone interviewing. J. Res. Nurs. 2008, 13(3):236-248.
26. Hicks D. Performance-based university research funding systems. Res. Policy 2012, 41:251-261.
27. Jackson D., Waine M.L., Hutchinson M. Blogs as a way to elicit feedback on research and engage stakeholders. Int. J. Res. Methodol. Nurs. Healthc. 2015, 22(3):41-47.
28. Java A., Song X., Finin T., Tseng B. Why we Twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities. Proceedings of the Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop 2007 2007, Springer, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/_file_directory_/papers/369.pdf.
29. Jendoubi S., Martin A., Lietard L., Yaghlane B. Classification of message spreading in a heterogeneous social network. International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems (IPMU) 2014, 66-75.
30. Kwak H., Lee C., Park H., Moon S. What is Twitter, a social network or a news media?. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on World Wide Web 2010, 591-600. ACM, Available at: http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~assefaw/CptS580-06/papers/2010-www-twitter.pdf (accessed 28.09.15).
31. Liebert M.A. Twittering Healthcare: social media and medicine. Telemed. e-Health 2009, 15(6):507-510.
32. Mandavilli A. Trial by twitter. Nature 2011, 469:286-297.
33. McKenna H. RAE and ERA - spot the difference. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 2012, 49:375-377.
34. McKenna H. Research Excellence Framework: from a 2014 curate's egg to a 2020 golden egg. Keynote Presentation 22nd April 2015 RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2015, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/research_and_innovation/rs/Annual_research_conference/research2015/keynote_speakers_2015.
35. McRory R. UK Social Media Statistics for 2014. Rose McRory social management media 2014, Available at:, (accessed 23.04.15). http://tinyurl.com/kcyh56t.
36. Meade C.M., Bursell A.L., Ketelsen L. Effects of nursing rounds on patients' call light use, satisfaction and safety. Am. J. Nurs. 2006, 106(9):58-70.
37. Merrifield N. Researchers to investigate value of intentional ward rounds. Nurs. Times 2014, December 29, Available at:, (accessed 06.05.15). http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/specialisms/management/researchers-to-investigate-value-of-intentional-ward-rounds/5077824.
38. Mesko B. Social Media in Clinical Practice 2013, Springer, London.
39. Mollett A., Moran D., Dunleavy P. Using twitter in university research, teaching and impact activities, a guide for academics and researchers 2011, 1-11. LSE Public Policy Group.
40. Moorley C., Watson R. NMC code advice on digital communications. Nurs. Times 2015, 111(14):22-23.
41. Moorley C., Chinn T. Using social media for continuous professional development. J. Adv. Nurs. 2014, 71(4):713-717.
42. Moorley C., Chinn T. Nursing and twitter: creating an online community using hashtags. Collegian 2014, 21(2):103-109.
43. Morrow E.M. The Impact of Higher Education Leadership, Management and Governance Research: Mining the 2014 Research Excellence Framework Impact Case Studies. Forthcoming Research report 2016, Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, London.
44. Morrow E., Ross F., Grocott P., Bennet J. A model and measure for quality service user involvement in health research. Int. J. Consum. Stud. 2010, 34(5):532-539.
45. Morton S. Progressing research impact assessment: a 'contributions' approach. Res. Eval. 2015, 24(4):405-419.
46. Morton S. Creating research impact: the roles of research users in interactive research mobilisation. Evid. Policy 2015, 11(1):35-55.
47. Mullikin D. Anonymity online is 'safe' but can hinder a discussion's validity. Nurs. Times 2015, 111(12):7.
48. Murdock A., Shariff R., Wilding K. Knowledge exchange between academia and third sector. Evid. Policy 2013, 9(3):419-430.
49. National Nursing Research Unit Policy+ Intentional rounding. What is the evidence? 2012, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/research/nnru/policy/By-Issue-Number/Policy--Issue-35final.pdf.
50. Nursing Management Ward rounding study will find out if quality of care is improved. Nurs. Manag. 2015, 21(9):7.
51. Nursing Standard Ward rounding approach will undergo research. Nurs. Stand. 2014, 29(8):16-18.
52. O'Connor A., Jackson L., Goldsmith L., Skirton H. Can I get a retweet please? Health research recruitment and the Twittersphere. J. Adv. Nurs. 2013, 70(3):599-609.
53. Peckham S., Willmott M., Allen P., Anderson S., Goodwin N. Assessing the impact of the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation Research and Development Programme. Evid. Policy 2008, 4(4):313-330.
54. Power A. Twitter's potential to enhance professional networking. Br. J. Midwifery 2014, 23(1):65-67.
55. Priem J., Costello K.L. How and why scholars cite on twitter. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 2010, 47(1):1-4. 10.1002/meet.14504701201.
56. Qualman E. Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and do Business 2011, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, Cited in Moorley and Chinn (2014b).
57. Reed M., Attlee A. Top Twitter tips for research impact 2015, Available at:, (accessed 18.01.16). http://www.mayaproject.org/blog/2015/10/4/top-twitter-tips-for-academics.
58. REF Assessment Framework and Guidance on Submissions. REF 02.2011 (as of 28 July 2014) 2011, Available at:, (accessed 27.09.15). http://www.ref.ac.uk/pubs/2011-02/.
59. Reinhardt W., Ebner M., Beham G., Costa C. How people are using Twitter during conferences. Creativity and Innovation Competencies on the Web, Proceedings of the 5th EduMedia 2009 2009, 145-156. V. Hornung-Praehauser, M. Luckmann (Eds.).
60. Richardson J., Grose J., Nelmes P., Parra G., Linares M. Tweet if you want to be sustainable: a thematic analysis of a Twitter chat to dis-cuss sustainability in nurse education. J. Adv. Nurs. 2016, 10.1111/jan.12900.
61. Schotten M., el Aisati M. The rise of national research assessments-and the tools and data that make them work. Research Evaluation & Funding 2014, Elsevier, Available at: http://www.elsevier.com/connect/the-rise-of-national-research-assessments-and-the-tools-and-data-that-make-them-work (accessed 28.09.15).
62. Sebba J. An exploratory review of the role of research mediators in social science. Evid. Policy 2013, 9(3):391-408.
63. Shields R. Following the leader? Network models of 'world-class' universities on twitter. High. Educ. 2015, 1-16. 10.1007/s10734-015-9900-z.
64. Snell J. Preparing to fly into the Twittersphere. Nurs. Stand. 2015, 30(3):20-21.
65. Social Care Research Impact Twitter 2015, (accessed 08.09.15). http://socialcareresearchimpact.org.uk/impact-tools/twitter/.
66. UK Parliament Nurses: Written question (20 March 2015 c 228618w) 2015, Available at:, (accessed 06.05.15). http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-03-20/228618.
67. Ventola C.L. Social media and health care professionals: benefits, risks, and best practices. P&T 2014, 39(7):491-499.
68. Wald H.S., Dube C.E., Anthony D.C. Untangling the web - the impact of Internet use on healthcare and the physician-patient relationship. Patient Educ. Couns. 2007, 68(3):218-224.
69. Witty A. Encouraging a British Invention Revolution: Sir Andrew Witty's Review of Universities growth - final report and recommendations 2013, Department for Business Innovation & Skills, London, Available at:, (accessed 27.02.15). http://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249720/bis-13-1241-encouraging-a-britishinvention-revolution-andrew-witty-review-R1.pdf.
70. Zhao D., Rosson M.B. How and why people Twitter: the role that micro-blogging plays in informal communication at work. Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work 2009, Available at:, (accessed 28.09.15). http://www.pensivepuffin.com/dwmcphd/syllabi/info447_au10/readings/zhao.rosson.Twitter.GROUP09.pdf.