Using Social Media to Communicate Research, Attract Funding and Foster Impact

Lack of encouragement by institutions, time constraints, privacy concerns, fake news, reputational risks and fear of cancellation or censorship are among the reasons why many academics are not fully embracing social media for scholarly communications. This is a missed opportunity, particularly for institutions that cannot afford costly subscriptions to journals, struggle to fund open access publishing for their researchers, and research centres that don’t have enough staff capacity for scholarly communications. Social media channels are accessible, free to use and offer global reach.This paper offers an international literature review and derives insights from editorials and articles on scholarly communications. It also shows how the pandemic boosted the role of social media as an effective communication tool for fast dissemination of scientific findings. Three case studies, two featuring research projects at the University of Cambridge managed by the author, show how leveraging social media can raise public awareness, inform and educate stakeholders, build international networks and boost funding.