A Conversation With ... Mike Stout, Ph.D.

How has Twitter become an integral part of your everyday work life?
I originally got started on Twitter because I began working on a project that was looking at how levels of online social network usage are related to college students’ levels of political participation and civic engagement. And since I was studying it, I thought I should log on to Twitter and learn a little more about it. Once I did, I started understanding that it can be, actually, a very valuable resource for me professionally and personally.

How do you use Twitter?
The first thing about Twitter that I like is that it’s a really quick and easy way to stay on top of current events. As a teacher, that’s important, because it keeps giving me examples that I can use in the classroom when I’m illustrating sociological concepts and ideas. It’s a great place to go for information from diverse types of media outlets and other people I follow. It’s also connected me to other sociologists and social scientists that I probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to meet in any other venue. It gives me the opportunity to share my research with like-minded people and exposes me to other people’s research.

How much time do you devote to Twitter, and what other social media do you use?
The time I spend on it varies. There will be some days when I post 10 to 12 things in a day, and other days when I don’t post anything. WorldWideLearn classified me as an occasional tweeter. I didn’t know about (the list) until after I was already on it. WorldWideLearn tweeted it to me. I don’t only tweet. I also look at my timeline to get updates and things. I check it at least once a day.

I also use Facebook and LinkedIn. LinkedIn is strictly professional, and Facebook, for me, is strictly personal. Twitter (is) about 80 percent sharing things I think are interesting (professionally) and 20 percent personal stuff.

What are some sociological effects of growing social media use?
On the one hand, (social media) is making people more connected and making geographic boundaries less of an obstacle for building relationships. To me, that’s an up side. The down sides are that there are not really any social norms that have caught up to the technology, so you get a lot of incivility on social media, a lot of spreading of lies and misinformation and character defamation. You really need to be critical, (considering) if it’s fact-checked or supported by any data or evidence. And you need to follow up before you start sharing it, because that’s how things go viral that aren’t necessarily true. (There is) more empathy in face-to-face interaction, because you can see how your words are hurting people or impacting (them). I think as the social norms catch up to the rapidly changing technology, hopefully there will be some unspoken rules of etiquette.

What best practices for Twitter would you recommend for businesspeople?
Some of the most effective ways I’ve seen Twitter used (are to) generate word-of-mouth through retweets about your product or whatever you’re trying to accomplish with the business. People trust other people in their networks, so if you can start to get your business to be part of the discussion that people are having in the cluster of networks you’re interested in influencing, that’s a relatively inexpensive way of increasing consumers’ knowledge about what you’re doing. You want to be able to build relationships with actual people using social media (to) connect with them. A lot of businesses now have actual positions for people who run their Facebook and Twitter, and those businesses tend to benefit from that, because they’re getting customers and building relationships with those customers, which increases profitability, visibility and positive perceptions of the organization.[[In-content Ad]]