Women in Philosophy: Ask a Senior Woman Philosopher about Social Media

The Women in Philosophy Series at the APA Blog is beginning a new mini-series, Ask A Woman Philosopher, in which senior women philosophers will respond to questions, a kind of advice column. Please feel free to send your questions to the series editor Adriel M. Trott at trotta@wabash.edu and we will send relevant and interesting questions out to senior women for answers. This post is the first in that series, and the response comes from Rebecca Kukla.

Is being on social media something I should or shouldn’t be doing to advance my career? Some people seem to think it is important to get your name out there, but many especially more junior women feel exhausted by the demand to always show up on social media or in comment sections in philosophy blogs. Other people tell graduate students and junior scholars to stay off social media because nothing good can come out of it and yet social media very often feels like where philosophy is happening (see Cassie Herbert’s post on misogyny in philosophy on the internet where she mentions this point that it isn’t so easy to just say, well get off social media). How should more junior people think about this? Is it different from how senior people should be thinking about being on the internet?

For philosophers, figuring out how best to use social media is a tricky question with no settled answer. Our communications technology, and our social norms around that technology, are both developing and changing quickly and are still unsettled. Using social media comes with important risks and important potential benefits. It is our main opportunity to craft our public persona and to forge connections with other philosophers.

I will focus on the role of social media for graduate students and untenured faculty in philosophy. I think there’s no doubt that staying off of social media altogether can actively harm your career, while using it wisely can actively help you, and can genuinely enrich your professional and intellectual life. A huge number of professional opportunities show up first and most prominently on Facebook, both as formal announcements and through informal discussions. A great deal of philosophical conversation that shapes the debates in our field happens on social media. Co-authorships and collaborations often take root online. People get to know one another’s personalities and research through these media. it clearly helps in getting interviews and invitations if people already know who you are, and like you and think highly of your ideas. I have certainly learned about the work of graduate students and young scholars through social media, and then offered them invitations and opportunities, used and assigned their work, and sought out their company at conferences as a result.

Facebook in particular has created a vast set of interlocking philosophical communities. Career considerations aside, this is a good thing. Through Facebook (and to a lesser extent Twitter) I have been exposed to, had conversations with, and formed friendships with a dramatically wider range of philosophers than I otherwise would have. My philosophical community is no longer bounded by geography, by job status, by age or social identity, by type of institution, or even by subfield or methodological approach. I expect most of us tend to disproportionately make Facebook friends with ‘people like us’ to some extent, but there is just no doubt that social media has broadened many philosophers’ exposure to different kinds of scholars, issues, and conversations. Junior philosophers who give these communities and exposures a pass are missing out on something that could enrich their intellectual and social lives, and they are forgoing crucial networking opportunities.

The way that academics use Facebook, in particular, strikes me as distinctive. I see my nonacademic friends bristle and become uncomfortable when Facebook conversations become too serious or detailed – they will complain that it’s ‘just Facebook’ and that people should lighten up. But academics have come to use social media as not only for information-sharing and professional networking, but as a serious tool for in-depth discussion, rigorous debate, and exploration of difficult topics – including those that are perhaps too new and in flux to make it into formal papers yet. For instance, I saw social epistemologists have detailed discussions about filter bubbles and ‘fake news’ on Facebook well before any philosophical papers on this made it into print; I think the social media discussions ended up shaping the disciplinary debate that emerged on this topic.

But at the same time, using social media, especially as a junior person in the field, is fraught with peril. An online fight with the wrong person or a post that rubs people the wrong way can do real damage. Since the norms around internet communication are still evolving, what works for some audiences will strike others as a norm violation. What comes off as professionally savvy to some may come off as obnoxiously self-promoting to others; what strikes some as a cute window into your personal life might strike others as mundane narcissism; a lament that might elicit sympathy from those who love you might make you look incompetent to casual professional acquaintances. Also, it can be hard not to toss off comments in the heat of the moment that you regret later. Women, people of color, disabled folks, trans folks, and anyone else inhabiting a marginal or complex place in the discipline face heightened risks of online abuse, exploitation, and uncharitable interpretation, all of which can have serious professional consequences.

Since I don’t think opting out is the best option, I’ve put together a list of suggested rules for how to limit and shape your social media presence and engagement. Since a discussion of the norms of safe, ethical, and fruitful online communication could fill a book, I’ve stuck to precepts specific to academia. Disclaimer: These are my own opinions, not backed up by any particular science!

On self-presentation:

1. Don’t talk about how much you are struggling to get work done on your main Facebook page, unless you already have a serious track record of productivity. Find a smaller circle, such as a tightly knit, controlled-membership group, in which to bond and find support for this very real issue. I know this is harsh, but people who are considering hiring you or inviting you to contribute something that will have a deadline might quite reasonably have second thoughts if you keep posting about how you can’t finish anything or can’t stop procrastinating.
2. Don’t complain about the job market. We all know it’s terrible. But potential employers don’t need to know that you are struggling, and there are always people struggling even more than you are who don’t need to hear your complaints. (Here too, this is something you may well be able to do in a smaller Facebook group – a group of just close friends, or fellow grad students, perhaps.)
3. Don’t post specifics about interviews you have. For one thing, if you then don’t get the job, it can make a bad impression on other potential employers. For another, you are inadvertently giving information to others who have applied; the school may not want this information made public, and other applicants may not appreciate receiving it unexpectedly.
4. Don’t complain about rejections you received or mock reviewers you think were unfair. What seems like an obviously unfair review to you might seem like a fair critique to someone else reading your complaint – indeed, the author of the review may be reading your post. (This has happened to me more than once, from both ends!)
5. Don’t post about your minor and relatively mundane professional accomplishments. It makes it look like this is the best you’ve got, and it comes off as vain and clogs your feed. But conversely, do feel free to amplify the big stuff! You want people to know about your new book, your new job, or your big grant, and others want to know too! This advice has to be indexed to your career arc. It’s fine to brag about getting into your first conference if you’re a grad student just starting out, but if you’re a junior faculty member, don’t tell the world about every conference you got into and every R&R you received. And so forth.
6. Most personal posts about cute things your kids said, your trip to visit your aunt in Missouri or your get-together with your high school friends, are boring to most people in your Facebook circle, who don’t know these people and have equally cute kids saying equally cute mundane kid things. If you don’t want to come off as boring, don’t dilute your social media presence with lots of such posts. Only post about personal events that are quirky, unusual, or momentous enough that someone with no knowledge of your family, high school, etc. may well be interested. Very pragmatically speaking, if someone hardly ever comments on or reacts to your posts, Facebook will stop showing your posts to them – that’s how the algorithm works. If you want philosophers that you are trying to network with to see your posts, then don’t dilute them too much with quotidian personal posts that are not going to elicit reactions from those not in your inner circle.
7. Relatedly, consider forming a separate page for family and for childhood non-academic friends, if they are not likely to share interests and discursive styles with your philosophy friends.
8. Proofread! (I am not good at following this rule!)

On interacting with other philosophers:

1. Facebook is a great place for philosophical debate. But before you make a philosophical claim or elicit reactions to a philosophical thought or argument, make sure you’ve done at least basic background research. Make sure you have your facts right and aren’t saying something familiar or famously refuted. In particular, make sure you are not proclaiming as a new insight something that women or people of color in the field have been arguing for decades. Always treat social media discussions of philosophy as professional engagements with other professional philosophers.
2. Don’t criticize whole areas or styles of philosophy, or be dismissive of the work of philosophers that many care about. It makes you look narrow-minded and uncollegial, and it will of course not play well with those you are dissing, who may be interviewing you or reviewing your tenure case some day. You may think ‘all’ your friends agree with you about what kinds of philosophy are stupid, but you’re probably wrong.
3. Make sure you check who you are responding to. Don’t accidentally explain someone’s own area of expertise to them. Google before you type.
4. Boost others rather than cutting them down whenever possible. Share other people’s work; compliment them when they make good points. It makes you look better, smarter, and more likable, I promise!
5. Be a good interlocutor; don’t keep arguing a point until you ‘win.’ Be willing to drop a thread when it is becoming unproductive, or to concede or retract a point when appropriate. (I know, this one can be hard! It goes against the training most of us received!)

On negotiating power dynamics and managing risk:

1. Don’t demand intellectual labor or engagement from marginalized or junior members of the profession (or anyone else). Of course, crowdsourcing is a powerful and exciting way of testing out an idea, clarifying a question, building a reading list or a syllabus, etc. But don’t ask questions that are easily answered, and especially don’t tag marginalized philosophers or otherwise put people on the spot for doing your work for you. A tag is a call to engage, and it forces the people tagged to either engage or look ignorant or rude. Be careful about imposing in this way.
2. Curate your Facebook circle. Don’t take friend requests from people just because they have common friends with you. Many people accept all requests, and there are truly toxic people in the field (or who fancy themselves somehow in the field) who have snowballed their way into philosophy networks in this way. Only accept requests from folks who you have real evidence are decent and interesting people who are likely to be valuable interlocutors. Some folks think that their Facebook circle should include ‘those who think differently’ from us along political lines. Up to a point, I agree – social media is a fantastic place to broaden our thinking and to be exposed to ideas we wouldn’t otherwise come across. But my view is, don’t trust people with fundamentally terrible values. The misogynists and the bigots and the Trump voters on your page are likely to harm you, because they are harmful people with no moral compass. Arguing across such large divides is emotionally exhausting and pointless anyhow. Just get rid of them and protect yourself.
3. Here’s a contentious one: Do allow yourself to post about things that really matter to you. It’s fine to express anger, to call out abusers and wrongdoers, and to take contentious positions. Yes, you will alienate some people, but social media is a powerful tool for communicating about the things we care about most, and we should not let the risks make us too afraid to use it in this way. You are shaping your public identity when you post, and you want a public identity that reflects your core values and shows your integrity. Just be aware that you take on risk when you express strong opinions and emotions.
4. And most importantly, remember that anything you post can be shared. Anything can and plausibly might be screenshot, copied, etc. You cannot control the life of your posts and comments, no matter what your privacy settings are. Always remember this when you post.

As a senior, tenured, queer woman in the field, with a ton of job security, in a supportive department at a great institution, I think about my own Facebook presence slightly differently. I make a conscious choice to reveal my failures and personal weaknesses on social media. I want junior folks in the field – especially women and other marginalized folks – to know that you don’t have to stop being human and deeply imperfect to succeed in this field. I want all junior folks to know that you can have children and hobbies and self-doubt and mental illness and non-philosophical passions and a messy life, and still succeed. I want to make myself available and approachable as a mentor and advisor. It is a gift of tenure that I can do this. So, I reveal more and take more risks on social media than I am recommending here. I’ve also made mistakes and posted things that I regret (and some things that I don’t regret, although you might think I would). Until you have tenure at an institution that you are confident has your back, protect yourself! Remember, whenever you engage online, you are building and curating a public identity for yourself. Do so thoughtfully and choose your risks wisely.

Rebecca Kukla is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, where she is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. She publishes in social epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of the applied sciences, and feminist/anti-oppression theory. She is also a current graduate student in Geography at CUNY, as well as a competitive amateur boxer and powerlifter.