Dear Miranda

I got the following three things from social media:

1. I met some very imaginative people, and also came across some great ideas.

2. It gave me a much wider choice of people, who are similar thinking as I.

3. It gave me much greater clarity about many concepts.

Things that surprise us are easier to remember. One way to find more insight is to ask, “What did you learn that surprised you?” This is what the question aims to do.

Dear Miranda. I never used any social media such as FB, Twitter, MSN et al. I do not consider RG as such. This being said, RG, is a wonderfull platform for scientist's interaction has given me, in just a few months, lots of new research lines, some partnerships that have already produced a few papers (either published, in press, accepted or submitted), access to extraordinary colleagues from all over the world in a very fast and productive way, download amazingly outstanding publications, knowing the work of many splendid persons and feeling a very greatfull sense of friendship with many of you (including yourself naturally) that has also given me the bless of learning more and more.

Thanks for sharing this important question.

Best regards,

JP

Dear Joao, my participation on LI, AE, FB is most minimal because all those are blocked by my college. Yes, I also learn many things from all of you.

Now we wait for our other friends in other time zones to get active... Thanks.

Yes Cecilia. I feel about the same. I think your estimate of distance is quite good. I'm in GMT or UTC + 800 h. My present time is 1053 Friday, May 30; but you it's still Thursday May 29. Despite distances, we communicate so well!

Dear Miranda

I don't use FB or other social media. RG is not strictly a social media. When I started using LI I expected to have some kind of research interaction. But nothing of the sort except some groups and a little bit of interaction. The only good thing about it is that it is relatively easy to use and less time consuming. In contrast, RG is an improved LI and more oriented to research. Best part foe me is the ability to put most of my publications together, though it is time consuming. Only problem is about citations, which are still not accurate. Another part is Q/A which allowed to build relations with many people from across globe. Meeting and discussing as if we know them for a lot of time such as you, Kamal, Ljubomir, Lijo, etc. become so attached. That is great and we know can depend on our friends.

Miranda, these are the things that surprised me in RG:

1. That I can exchange ideas with scientists I have never met in my life, and perhaps will never personally meet, at the tip of my finger in a few seconds.

2. That I can gain friends that I have never met in my life, and maybe would never personally meet without leaving my chair.

3. That I cam learn so much from my colleagues- things I do not know, their personalities reflected in their answers and questions.

4. That I can share something which is appreciated by others from around the world.

From the Facebook, what surprised me is that I can manage my students through the net.

Ed

Dear Miranda

I got the following three things from social media:

1. I met some very imaginative people, and also came across some great ideas.

2. It gave me a much wider choice of people, who are similar thinking as I.

3. It gave me much greater clarity about many concepts.

Agree with all that has been said above. Although I used FB to converse with my community in mother tongue language.

To add on... I learnt from the way our colleagues respond to each other, they are unique. For example, Prof. Rao - one of the quickest who gave comments; Prof. Ljubomir - he replied with attachments and links; and Prof. Saini responded with clarity giving numbers in his answers. Surprising first time....interesting the next.....;)

Besides the goods points made by Prof. Joao, Prof. Saini and others, I found how good RG can do to me (and perhaps to others). I learnt more than i could give away. I found lots of mentors. I found quantity (numbers and figures such RG score, Impact points, No of Followers, ...) can differ from quality.

P.S.: I dont use social media such as FB, Twitter, MSN or even LI.

I completely agree with João!

Only from RG :-)

Dear Miranda,

I use both RG and FB. FB is a medium for social interactions which allows me to add, block and select what I want from diverse membership. RG is a record for my publication as well others and to personal interest of communication and research activity. I learned a lot from both but at different times and levels.

I am still on my journey with social media. I would say I am beyond the infancy stage, but I still have a long way to go. From RG I have got..

1. Power of peer recommendations

2. A few new ideas...

3. Few very active friends like Nageswara, Ljubomir, Giovanni, Kamal, Lijo, Aftab, Beata, Miranda, Pardis and ......

Dear @Miranda, For me FB becomes full of non-relevant material, unlike RG which is a platform for research and researchers.

Dear @Miranda, I do have all accounts, namely LinkedIN, Facebook and ResearchGate! The last network that I have joined was ResearchGate.The most of time is devoted to RG, Facebook and LinkedIN very,very rare! I have learned that I need some other networks in order to connect to people who are not at RG or their RG account were suspended! This is the example of Lijo, Patrick, Basham...!

There is many SPAM at both FB and IN !

Very fine interaction among researchers have been enabled by RG!

"5 Common Uses for Social Networking and the effect on your target audience" is given by following link! RG does not belong to this group of social Networks!

http://www.blogussion.com/general/uses-social-networking/

Thanks for your views. I will be back soon. I'm doing a poster for my project based on Lijo's poster format :))

@Miranda, as You stated: “What did you learn that surprised you?”, I may say that I am surprised by the way of question deletion at RG, by enormous downvoting of both threads and answers with no reasons and no explanations, by not so good and not fast responses of RG Community Liaisons....etc! Please, have a look, some more responses were done, Martin Kovar, ...

https://feedback.researchgate.net/responses/why-my-question-is-not-accessible-to-my-friends

@Prof Ljubomir, people who downvote sensible posts give RG a poor impression to all stake holders. They should give a reason for downvoting. If not it may mean just a negative personality who wants to reduce the score of innocent colleagues. It teaches me not to take the score so seriously.

There are many posts that I disagree that I leave alone.

I learned that there are so many scientists facing exactly the same problems like me! Indeed I didn't expect that...

Dear Miranda

I will also say that `even though I use facebook, linkedin and RG, but RG has attracted me the maximum. I have nearly become addicted to it. I was away the last three days where I did not have access to the net, I missed RG more than anything else. This is also what social media has given me.

@Demetris, Prof Debi et al., thanks. I think we have got used to RG environment. Some of us have been in RG for over a year. RG is fine for certain things like putting our papers together. When I log into LI or B, a message pops out 'Blocked by your organization'. As Prof N and some others have said, we have learnt a lot about one another and from one another.

I can learn from my colleagues around the world.

right now i am writing a paper about a new metric, little bit far a way from my major, but with some help from RG researchers such as Christopher Farah and Abedallah M Rababah I could manage and dare to start and prove my new metric, thanks to everyone on this platform who share their thoughts and help other researchers.

I am addicted RG now.

I think that there is no need for research groups any more, with this platform we are a big team, we can collaborate to start any kind of research without being physically together.

@Sylantev, Ahmad Hassanat; collaboration is feasible on RG environment, and we have got used to it. It's just that each of us has very limited time, although we desire to do research together with some people.

Thanks Prof Kamal. I consider myself blessed to have good, kind friends like you and many others on RG. Because of you all, I have learnt such a lot. And because of the generosity of some of you, I don't even need a research grant to do some fine research. VIVA my dear friends!