Which image types do universities tweet?

Authors

  • Emma Stuart University of Wolverhampton
  • Mike Thelwall University of Wolverhampton
  • David Stuart University of Wolverhampton

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i3.9225

Keywords:

Twitter, images, social media, Instagram, universities

Abstract

Universities use social media to attract prospective staff, students, and funding; to engage with current students; and to support teaching and learning. Images on social media are becoming particularly dominant, and whilst Twitter is not primarily an image-based social media service, nonetheless 36 percent of links shared on Twitter point to an image. This research paper compares the types of images that universities post on Twitter to the results of previous research that has investigated the types of images that universities post on Instagram, in order to better understand how universities are using the two services for image sharing.

The most popular type of image tweeted by universities was showcasing (61 percent), followed by humanizing images (20.9 percent). The dominance of showcasing images on Twitter fits with the notion of Twitter as an information source rather than a networking source, with it predominantly being used as a means of one-way communication with current students to broadcast university-specific information, rather than for attracting prospective staff, students, and funding, or to support teaching and learning.

Author Biographies

Emma Stuart, University of Wolverhampton

Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, within the school of mathematics and computer science.

The lead author, Emma Stuart, is a postdoctoral researcher who specialises in social media content analysis.

Mike Thelwall, University of Wolverhampton

Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, within the school of mathematics and computer science.

Mike is a Professor of Information Science, and head of the Statistical Cybermetrics research group.

David Stuart, University of Wolverhampton

David is an honourary research fellow in the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, within the school of mathematics and computer science.

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Published

2019-03-01

How to Cite

Stuart, E., Thelwall, M., & Stuart, D. (2019). Which image types do universities tweet?. First Monday, 24(3). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i3.9225