Many researchers use social media, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, to help them stay up-to-date on emerging research and developments in their field. In addition to these sites, you may also consider using the social networking function of a citation manager like Mendeley. 

When using social media for your research or your career, it is important to consider your professional online identity. For more information about this, please see our library guide Create and Manage your Online Scholarly Presence. 

You can use Twitter to stay current by following news sources, organizations, and professional associations. You can track hashtags devoted to your field, professional association, or professional gathering. Hashtags are often designated at conferences for users to post and read comments and updates on conference events in real time. 

You can use LinkedIn to create a professional persona by uploading a resume, search for jobs, connect and communicate with professionals and organizations. When following organizations, you can follow Group pages or Company pages. A Company page is written in the company voice; to showcasing company news, events, and other information. A Group page is more of a discussion forum; where company, employees, and others can engage with one another. 

At its most basic level, Mendeley is a citation management tool, but it can also help with other aspects of research, such as:

• Organizing PDFs of research papers, including annotations and highlights.
• Inserting bibliographies and citations into a word processor.
• Sharing research with collaborators.
• Discovering articles in your field.

For more information about Mendeley, please see our library guide and/or visit a Savvy Researcher Workshop.