www.chi.ac.ukwww.chi.ac.uk

Teach, Tweet, Repeat: A comparison of Education professionals'

perceptions of Twitter

Hazel BeadleMay 2015

www.chi.ac.uk

Literature

• Democratisation of information (McEnnis, 2013; Criado et al, 2013)

• Increasing pool of the population are constantly connected (Stevenson and Peck, 2011; Evans, 2014)

• 'almost every situation where your employer might want to monitor your electronic communications [is covered], except where that monitoring is for purely private or spiteful reasons‘ (Citizens’ Advice Bureau, 2015)

• The absence of face-to-face contact favours observation (Turban et al, 2004; Askenazy and Caroli, 2010)

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Database

20s 30s 40s 50s 60s0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

EductionNon-Education

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Reflection 1

Controve

rsial

Maintai

n prof. i

mage

Employe

r watc

hing

Presen

tation iss

ues

End unpro

d. disc

ussion

Too m

uch pers

onal deta

il0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

EducationNon Education

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Reflection 2

Controve

rsial

Maintai

n profes

sional

imag

e

Employe

r watc

hing

Presen

tation iss

ues

End unpro

ductive

discussi

on

Too m

uch pers

onal deta

il 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

All 'reflective'EducationEd. monitored

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Retweets have no bearing

Agree with the sentiment Helpful to others Thought interesting Not answered0

1

2

3

All EducationNon Ed.

www.chi.ac.uk

Positive link

Agree with sen-timent

Helpful to others Thought interesting Nurture relationship Appear informed Not answered0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

All EducationNon Ed.

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Empowerment?• Through access to information• Through self-publicity• A desire to avoid being controversial and a

desire to appear professional are significant features of self-regulation efforts

• May not be aware of the extent to which they are culturing an impression through Twitter use

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Conclusion

• Self-regulation: professional appearance; avoidance of controversy

• Variation in the extent to which Twitter users are aware of how their actions influence the impression being created

• Manipulative potential• Implications for individual and organisation• Comparability across the professional boundary