Social media as platforms for improving visibility of research outputs in Africa

The global knowledge economy has broadened in the 21st century and has created a push for demand to process and share information in light of this, there is increasing expectation from stakeholders in higher eduation necessitating universities to incorporate information processing and dissemination in their training curricula. Universities in sub-Saharan Africa ought to adapt and innovate to achieve amiable transformation in their processes that strengthen the utilisation of social media platforms as vehicles that increase the visibility, accessibility and utilisation of their research outputs in policy and development discourse. Selected events of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) at which social media platforms were used constituted a case study on the use of social media platforms for improving visibility of university-based research outputs. The analysis indicated increasing interest by the academic staff and development partners in use of social media due to the perceived and potential multiplier effect in sharing their research outputs. Increased demand to train academic staff and students from within the Network of member universities in the use of Social Media for publishing, Networking and collaboration is expected. The use of social media platforms is a cost effective way for disseminating research and innovations whilst taking advantage of increased internet access and connectivity by researchers linking them directly with their target audiences.