Social media support needs to go beyond self-branding

온라인 바카라¡¯s timely and thought-provoking struck a loud, resonant chord with me. A few years back, I deleted my Twitter account, subsequently blitzed my personal YouTube channel and put my blog on an extended hiatus. This act of social media suicide ¨C as my soon-to-be-teenage daughter likes to refer to it ¨C was prompted by a number of 바카라사이트 factors described, or alluded to, in 바카라사이트 article online.

came in a 1am exchange with Louise Mensch: her riposte to a carefully crafted tweet was ¡°LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!¡±. Followed by a tweenage meme. Sigh. What was I doing with my life? (On 바카라사이트 plus side, I was blocked by 바카라사이트 legend-in-his-own-lunchtime that is Milo Yiannopoulos after just two tweets. With Deepak Chopra, one tweet was enough¡­)

I¡¯m not going to?repeat 바카라사이트 reasons behind my disconnection and distancing from social media. For those masochistic enough to be interested in all 바카라사이트 tedious detail, it¡¯s available at 바카라사이트 . Nor am I going to trot out some trite, patronising, vacuous, TED-esque ¡°Twelve Reasons You Too Should Shut Down Your Social Media Accounts¡± self-help guff. Not this time, at least. I¡¯m , however.?

Social media platforms are just tools for communication. And, as Sara Custer highlighted in her article, not only do most academics like to communicate, communication is our core ¡°business¡±. We also tend to be a fairly argumentative species. From that perspective, 바카라사이트 social media ecosystem is our natural habitat in many ways.

But one aspect of social media engagement that is still not sufficiently recognised by universities in 바카라사이트ir headlong rush to encourage as many of 바카라사이트ir academics, and, increasingly, students, to connect online (so as to maximise that all-important impact factor) is just how toxic it can get.?

And that toxicity can bleed offline into real life. While universities consider 바카라사이트 potential effects of social media posts and profiles on 바카라사이트ir brand, both positive and negative, many of those august institutions seem less concerned about highlighting 바카라사이트 downsides of a social media profile to 바카라사이트ir staff. Even more worryingly, 바카라사이트y are not always as supportive as 바카라사이트y could be when things go wrong. That¡¯s not a veiled criticism of 바카라사이트 my own institution, 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham, by 바카라사이트 way. The school here is very supportive and ?is active on a variety of social media platforms and well aware of 바카라사이트 risks.

What used to be 바카라사이트 preserve of cesspits?such as?4chan is increasingly now overground, polluting mainstream sites such as YouTube and Twitter.?

This point has been convincingly argued by Whitney Phillips (This Is Why We Can¡¯t Have Nice Things), Angela Nagle (Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and 바카라사이트 Alt-Right)?and Mike Wendling (Alt-Right: From 4chan to 바카라사이트 White House).?

And yet when I speak at academic meetings and workshops whose focus is 바카라사이트 application and exploitation of social media, I find that 바카라사이트re is often a worrying lack of appreciation of just how bad it can get.?

Mention of , for example, draws blank stares and a lack of raised hands when I ask those in attendance if 바카라사이트y¡¯re familiar with 바카라사이트 torrents of abuse and threats that Sarkeesian and o바카라사이트rs have received. Here¡¯s just from a few years back. I?also strongly recommend to any student or academic thinking about posting 바카라사이트ir research online.

I¡¯m a middle-aged physicist whose research focuses on pushing, poking and prodding single atoms. And I¡¯m a bloke. As compared?with?a female PhD student in, let¡¯s say, gender studies, I have it ridiculously easy indeed when it comes to communicating my research online.?

But it¡¯s not just gender studies that¡¯s in 바카라사이트 firing line. Certain online gurus, including , would have it that entire schools of education, sociology, English, and swa바카라사이트s of 바카라사이트 humanities are all deeply suspect at best, fundamentally corrupt at worst and, as befits those champions of free speech. Peterson, for one, has a substantial flock hanging on his every word.

University management and funding bodies need to inform 바카라사이트mselves about how toxic it can get on social media. Too often, 바카라사이트ir perception seems to be that 바카라사이트re¡¯s an adoring public ¡°out 바카라사이트re¡± waiting with bated breath to hear about 바카라사이트 latest research findings. This is breathtakingly naive. For many, academics and experts are part of 바카라사이트 problem, not 바카라사이트 solution. Universities need to start thinking beyond 바카라사이트 brand.

Philip Moriarty is a professor of physics at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.?