QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS: Exploring Academic Staff Engagement on Mastodon

This research project explores the role of Mastodon in academic communication. Sparked by a shift away from X/Twitter due to concerns over misinformation and harassment, Mastodon has become a growing space for scholarly exchange. Despite this trend, little is known about how academics engage with the platform. We conducted this study to understand academic staff's perceptions, motivations, usage patterns, and the platform’s potential benefits and challenges. 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. The qualitative part investigated the awareness, perceptions and experiences of academics at the University of Groningen (UG) with Mastodon and other social media. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 randomly selected academic staff members from various departments at the University of Groningen.