The social presence of academics on social media platforms

This article examines how academics and scholars cultivate their social presence on social media platforms as a specific form of public engagement. Through a comprehensive literature review, in this chapter, we analyze how the communicative context of social media inevitably conditions scholarly communication, reshaping traditional boundaries between scientific discourse and public discourse. The analysis focuses on three key dimensions: self-presentation strategies, the reconfiguration of communicative contexts, and the redefinition of scholars’ public roles. Social media platforms require academics to engage in forms of self-disclosure that blend professional and personal identities, creating new challenges in terms of managing authenticity while maintaining scientific credibility. The phenomenon of context collapse further complicates these dynamics, as scholars must navigate environments in which various social circles and epistemological regimes converge. In this chapter, we identify eight types of public engagement that emerge in this digital landscape, ranging from reputational to communal modes of communication. In an era of post-normal science, in which scientific uncertainty meets urgent societal demands, academics on social media must negotiate complex tensions between scientific accuracy and public expectations and between emotional engagement and an objective presentation, ultimately redefining their social responsibilities and ethical obligations in contemporary society.