Blogs as a way to elicit feedback on research and engage stakeholders

Aim: To reflect on the potential of blogs to enhance engagement with research, create a dialogue between researchers and nurses, and provide feedback to researchers.

Background: Blogs can create opportunities to share ideas, provide an arena for interaction, and rapidly and effectively initiate dialogue and feedback on research.

Data sources: This paper draws on analysis of comments on a blog post about the findings of a peer-reviewed journal article.

Review methods: Content analysis of web blog discussion.

Discussion: It is unclear if the readers of the blog would have accessed this article any other way. Therefore, posting research findings on a blog can engage a new audience of nurses and provide a way to feed back comments and responses to researchers. This highlights the potential value of online forums for 'knowledge translation' and draws attention to virtual collegiality, which can provide a way for nurses in diverse locations to share their experiences and ideas, and gain support and information.

Conclusion: Research findings were brought to life through the participation of blog commenters, who validated findings reported in the research.

Implications for practice/research: Given the rapid uptake of social media, it is inevitable that it will become an increasingly important feature of research. This paper demonstrates how the nexus can occur between more formal social enquiry and less formal engagement in critique and knowledge translation. The authors argue that the rapid uptake and exchange of information through social media can provide an indication of the social relevance of the research.