Social Network and Social Research

"By social network we refer to any structure, formal or informal, including a set of people or organizations, together with their respective relationships" (Scott, 2000). A social network can therefore be defined as such by virtue of the presence of users connected to each other and who have an interactive communication, a communication that produces relationships and contents (Ceron, Curini, Iacus, 2014). The great power of online social media lies precisely in the horizontality of the publications, which reach a huge readership, in considerably reduced times with unprecedented ease of dissemination. The research obviously did nothing more than adapt to this innovation by using social networks in a productive and effective manner, exponentially increasing the size of the spread: it crosses multiple social levels, breaking the boundaries of the elite of "experts". 

The great danger lies instead in the authenticity of the sources, which escaping from an institutional control, and must be analyzed and scrupulously.

The benefits enjoyed by scientific research in the use of the web are therefore:

• quick access to sources;

• use of highly innovative software and search engines,

• rapid dissemination of the contents of the research itself;

• creation of networks of "professionals" with whom to collaborate by overcoming the space-time limits.

Research 2.0 is an open, collaborative and highly computerized research: horizontal.

In my personal experience as a researcher I used social media to find my sample, to disseminate the research questionnaire, to review the work with a group of international teachers and to take care of the bibliographic aspect. They have certainly facilitated the course of my work, especially facilitating the exchange and collaboration between professionals, but at the same time I found the difficulty in verifying the reliability of bibliographic sources.

The work done during the course Investigacion 2.0 allowed me to know the distribution channels through which to publish the results of my project at different levels. The construction of the blog and sharing on the about.me site has increased the chances of visibility of the work itself.

From the creation of its identity as a researcher 2.0, to access to sources, to research tools and to dissemination, the course has outlined the clear and linear path that the research professional, in my social case, must follow to achieve successful results .

Thanks to the course I acquired the tools to improve my research and above all I was able to structure more precisely the steps to follow in my PhD project.