Tag Archives: Social Media

The perils of academic conference accounts

It’s quite the trend in academia these days to set up a series of ‘conference accounts’ on social media to promote said conference and bring together all related materials. However, these accounts are rarely (if ever) worthwhile and can actually detract from what should be your primary marketing goal; namely to promote the work of the wider organisation to which your conference is attached. Continue reading »

The dangers of academic blogging and social media

Blogs are everywhere these days. In the world of academia you almost can’t move for the sheer number of blogs popping up all over the place. From academic departments to research centres, reading groups and individuals, there more blogs out there than any sane person could hope to follow.

So why should you bother writing one? Do you need to write one? Can you get by without one?

To blog or not to blog…

There seems to be a trend in academia at the moment where many people feel compelled to start a blog because it’s the ‘done thing’ without really stopping to think about why they are blogging, or even if they should be blogging at all. Just because other people are doing it, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for you, or even your department. In some cases, it’s far better not to blog than risk the potential damage a poorly run blog could cause to you and your reputation.
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A sombre view of the modern world…

I despair at the modern world in which we live. It’s not so much the sensationalism, the terrorism, the rampant consumerism; it’s more the fact that people today simply do not think.

For all its boons, social media has done more to erode modern society than it has to enhance it. People think they can explain the world’s problems in a meme, or a few characters, without ever bothering to scratch below the surface or find out more. Worse still, the ease with which ‘information’ (very definitely with inverted commas) can be found these days means people just don’t know how to do proper research and think for themselves. Got a question? Google it. Google will tell you the truth… Continue reading »

Micro-fascism, Facebook and the General Election

There’s been a General Election on here in the UK – have you heard?

Most of my Facebook wall today is full of people rightly or wrongly basking in the failure of UKIP in the election. Now, I’m not a UKIP supporter, but there are some interesting points we can take from this that link to the work of critical theorists such as Deleuze, Guattari and Badiou among others. Continue reading »