New research has recently been published regarding the effect of twitter activity on article citations. This could help answer the question that many scientists are asking themselves: is it necessary to participate actively in social media to stay relevant? It’s also directly related to how accessible research is, as tweeting an open access article is likely to reach a much wider audience compared to one published in a subscription journal.

The study, by Kim Holmberg of the University of Turku in Finland, found that open access journals and articles have a “big advantage” when it comes to being shared on Twitter compared with those behind a paywall. They were also more likely to be shared on Facebook, although to a lesser extent.

While some are skeptical of the value of metrics like blog mentions, tweets and Facebook likes being used to measure academic impact, it’s a fact of modern life that academic conversations are increasingly moving online.  Holmberg’s study assessed around 4 million “altmetric events” – the sharing of research using tools like Facebook and the academic bookmarking tool Mendeley - which can shed light on the impact of scholarly work beyond the traditional measure of citations by other academics. 

It’s not just citations which are affected by social media activity.  Although academics may look at any individual tweet about their work and question its impact, the value isn’t limited to a single tweet, but in communities and conversations. Researchers can see who is listening, from potential collaborators to funders; what pieces of the work resonated loudest with the academic audience; how their work is being used; and even which open questions for further research are driving the most interest.