Beyond Citations: Why Altmetrics Matter in a Social Media World, Zoe Manalo (Post #8)

 

Beyond Citations: Why Altmetrics Matter in a Social Media World

Zoe Manalo, Post #8

    What we think about measuring research impact, most of us immediately picture citations. Those little numbers that tell us how often a paper has been referenced. But in today's world of tweets, threads, and trending topics, that old-school approach only tells part of the story. Enter altmetrics, short for alternative metrics which look at how research is shared and discussed outside traditional academia. Altmetrics track things like social media mentions, new coverage, and online discussions to show how scholarships connects with the public in real time. In their article Towards a Second Generation of "Social Media Metrics," Diaz-Faes, Bowman, and Costas (2019) dig into how Twitter communities form around science. They argue that it's not just about counting likes or retweets, it's about who is paying attention and how they're engaging. Instead of treating social media as noise, they see it as a complex ecosystem where researchers, journalists, and curious readers all interact, shaping how knowledge travels and evolves online. 

    On the flip side, Gruzd and Mai's (2020) study Going Viral: How a Single Tweet Spawned a COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory on Twitter shows how that same visibility can quickly spiral out of control. Their case study of viral conspiracy tweet reminds us that online attention isn't always positive or accurate. Altmertrics can capture the reach of information, but they also reveal how easily misinformation spreads when context is lost. 

    Together, these two pieces highlight what's exciting and a little scary about altmetrics. They help us see the bigger picture of research influence, beyond journal walls and paywalled databases. However, they also challenge us to think critically about what attention really means. Is a viral tweet about science a sign of impact or a warning sign? Is it both? 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blogging through Social Platforms- Lizzy's First Blog Post

 There are many forms of blogging especially in today's social media world. What started as the world wide web in 1991 turned into many other social media pages to be created. If we truly think about it, all of these social media platforms are different ways of blogging. X  (Twitter) is short blog posts, Facebook is daily updates blogging, Instagram is picture blogging and Zoom is video blogging. That is basically all that these social medias are about. Sharing news, updates in our lives or telling the world news. This world of social media has completely turned our online resources around. The problem is we cannot believe everything we read on the internet, especially with social media platforms. There are many outside sources or fake news that can spread very fast. Fact checking is a new thing now on Facebook. It says that this page was fact checked. But was it really? Social media is widely becoming a major tool in our lives. This does not mean it should consume us. In a wo...
Read more

"Anonymous Member" (Lizzy Sblendorio Post #5)

Image
  The Anonymous Member on the social media app, Facebook, has become a new feature that many like but others do not. With this feature, members of Facebook can comment or post into a group anything under 'anonymous member'. Is this privacy setting too much or is it a good thing. One thing to remember is to never believe everything you read on the internet. What is a puzzle in itself is whether or not that person with a cute profile is actually the real person. What I mean by that is anyone can create a profile on Facebook, how do you know that all of their information is correct? You simply do not. Privacy has become a little too common in my opinion. There are not enough steps to verify your real information. That is why I do not like the anonymous feature on Facebook. What if someone says something hurtful or a threat and they are listed as a anonymous member? Yeah it can trace back to their normal profile but what if that person does not exist. Being invisible is all over so...
Read more

Users of the World, Unite! Review (Zoe Manalo Post #3)

  Users of the World, Unite! What Kaplan & Haenlein Teach Us About Social Media Zoe Manalo (Post #3) For this week I wanted to focus on one of the readings. When we think of social media today, it may feel like it's been around for awhile. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and the list goes on. But back in 2010, Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein published an articled titled Users of the World, Unite! that helped define what social media is and why it matters. Now it's 2025 and their article still shapes how we think about online platforms.  Kaplan and Haenlein described social media as a group of Interned based applications built on the Web 2.0., where users create and share information. They don't just consume what they come across. This shift from doom scrolling, or passive to active participation is what makes social media a tool. Kaplan and Haenlein broke social media into six categories: collaborative projects, blogs and microblog, content communities, social network...
Read more