Research project: ‘Exploring Academic Staff Engagement on Mastodon' (2024/25)

Social media has transformed how academic communities connect and share information.

In response to ethical concerns about commercial social networks - particularly after Twitter/X's decline under Elon Musk - Mastodon, a decentralized and open-source platform, has gained attention among academics.

The University of Groningen Library, in alignment with its commitment to open science, fully adopted Mastodon as its primary channel for engaging with the academic community in 2023.

Motivated by our institutional experience with the platform - and recognizing that academic staff constitute our largest follower group - we sought to better understand how scholars perceive and use Mastodon for professional and scholarly purposes. Therefore, we conducted a research project to examine their motivations, usage patterns, perceived benefits, and encountered challenges.

The project was part of a student research internship between 1 September and 31 December 2024 at the communications department of the University of Groningen Library.

The project employed a mixed-methods approach, resulting in a three-part study comprising (1) a literature review, (2) a quantitative survey, and (3) qualitative interviews.

Citation

Niemeier, H., Knauer, B., & Westerhof, J. (2025). PROJECT SUMMARY: Exploring Academic Staff Engagement on Mastodon. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15582840