Clark, David and Nicholas, David and Herman, Eti and Abrizah, Abdullah and Watkinson, Anthony and Rodriguez-Bravo, Blanca and Boukacem-Zeghmouri, Cherifa and Swigon, Marzena and Xu, Jie and Jamali, Hamid R. and Sims, David and Serbina, Galina (2024) WhatsApp - what's that? Learned Publishing, 37 (2). pp. 72-88. ISSN 0953-1513, DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1596.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
In this, the second iteration of our continuing `Harbingers of Change' project, over 160 early career researchers (ECRs) from eight countries were questioned about their scholarly communications. Three repeat in-depth interviews were conducted over 2 years of the pandemic to chart changes in attitude and behaviour. This paper provides interview findings (and an extensive literature review) regarding the role played by social media platforms. It was prompted by an initial review of the data that highlighted significant changes in the attitudes and behaviour of Malaysian ECRs, especially in respect to WhatsApp. Data were provided from several open-ended interview questions about social media, a few interviewer prompts for individual platform names, and, indirectly, from `mentions' of individual platforms in answers to a range of questions about scholarly communications. Findings were: (1) 15 platforms were mentioned in respect to a range of scholarly activities, most notably visibility and reach; (2) Twitter (now X) was the most mentioned, by half the ECRs; (3) `churn' is a notable observation, with large gains and losses in mentions occurring between interviews; (4) large differences between countries, with Malaysian ECRs very much leading on the adoption of social media and largely responsible for the rise of WhatsApp, French ECRs showing little interest, and China a different space where WeChat reigns supreme and foreign platforms are blocked.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Funders: | Alfred P. Sloan Foundation |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | early career researchers; pandemic; social media |
| Subjects: | Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Department of Library and Information Sience |
| Depositing User: | Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Nov 2024 07:17 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Nov 2024 07:17 |
| URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/45629 |
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