Using social media for active public involvement in research

2014 Conference

Abstract: INVOLVE recently undertook a project looking at the use of social media for public involvement in research. The project advisory group found that while there were resources on using social media for communication and engagement, there was less information avaiable on using social media for active public involvement in research.

In addition to conducting a scoping exercise, we consulted with relevant groups and held a Twitter chat on social media for public involvement. We also put out a call for people to get in touch if they had used social media for active public involvement in research. We interviewed nine people, and many others were in touch to express an interest in the area and share their thoughts with us.

Based on this work we developed a guidance document that includes the benefits and challenges of using social media to actively involve people, how to manage risks and consider ethical issues, top tips and things to think about before using social media for involvement in research. To complement the guidance we wrote up the interviews as real life examples of the use of social media for public involvement. These can be accessed and downloaded via the INVOLVE website

At the conference session we will be discussing the newly launched INVOLVE guidance document on use of social media for active public involvement in research. We will talk about how we developed the guidance and how we plan to keep it up to date as the use of social media continues to develop and raise new opportunities, challenges and ethical issues.

The session will use a hashtag so that others not physically present can also ask questions, and the discussion will be live tweeted.