EFFECTIVE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

All around the world researchers are realizing the need to utilize social media to increase research collaboration and promote professional meetings and scientific conferences. This paper describes the efforts of Women Research Division (WRD) in organizing The Second Saudi International Electronics, Communications and Photonics Conference 2013. The focus will be on the publicity tasks related to social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The team started by setting up an appropriate strategy to use best practices for social media utilization, then a decision was made on which form of social media will better serve the purpose of the conference and allow for maximum interaction with the local and international communities. The team then took a number of actions to make sure that all content is accurately available and efforts are organized to successfully execute the strategy. A lot of emphasis was put on reaching out to graduate students around the world who are developing their thesis/dissertation to invite them to present their work and get expert opinion. The students are invited to submit their posters and take part in a one-minute spotlight talk to promote their research. The whole process was executed and all steps were monitored carefully to identify areas of improvements for future events