PhD Voice - Independently Run

Amplifying the voices of PhD Students. Tag us with # or @PhDVoice. Runs @PostdocVoice. Free PhD Resources Run

[PhD Voice - Independently Run @PhDVoice]

Interestingly, since we started posting about how many fake university accounts there are on social media (👇), our website has received significantly more attempts to hack it.

I wonder if it is a coincidence.🤔

[PhD Voice - Independently Run @PhDVoice]

How universities can control what you see on social media:

The use of bots is commonly known, but that is just one way that universities can control what you see.

Another, much more effective, method is to have many accounts operated by real people.

Using these accounts allows universities to control what you see in four easy and different ways.

To understand how, we first need to understand how social media algorithms work.

When you post something, all the big social media platforms then show your post to a small number of your followers.

If these followers interact with your post, for example, like it or repost, the algorithm registers this as a high value post and shows it to more people.

Initially, it is to more of your followers, but as time goes on and your post continues to get a high level of engagement, it gets shown to more and more accounts that don’t follow you. That is how you break out and grow rapidly.

The four distinct ways accounts controlled by universities can control what you see are:

1.Engage with a post they want you to see, from a university controlled account. That can be through liking it, reposting it, commenting on it, expanding it to read the thread, or even reading people’s replies. That tells the algorithm that this post is high value and to show it to more people.

2.Use these artificial accounts to pump out many posts and flood the space. That greatly reduces the chances of you seeing posts from non-university accounts.

3.Follow other accounts and not interact with their posts. If you have 100 accounts see your post and 90 are controlled by universities. If these 90 don’t interact with the post they don’t approve, that tells the algorithm that this post is low value and it will stop being shown to other accounts. Hence, the remaining 10 accounts, that are real, need to engage with your post even more to overcompensate for that damage the 90 artificial accounts are doing.

4.Only interacting with posts from non-friendly accounts that they approve of. That boosts the posts that are good for them because the algorithm registers that these posts are higher value and shows them to more accounts at the expense of other posts.

With hundreds of thousands of accounts in the academic space, it seems hard to think that universities can have that many artificial accounts - enough to control what you see.

But is it? Let’s do the numbers.

Let’s say it takes 15 minutes per day to administrate one artificial account. In other words, a real person is using that account and engaging with certain posts and specifically not engaging with other posts.

A full time worker does 7 hours of work per day. That means this person can control 7x4 accounts each day = 28.

Taking the least economical case possible where the university pays the person a salary on par with Switzerland (one of the highest income countries in the world). It costs the university about $80,000 per year to employ this person.

If the university spends $2 million per year, it can employ 25 people, giving it control over 700 artificial accounts.

That may not seem like a lot of accounts…until you realize that there are about 20,000 universities around the world. And even if just a few hundred universities do this, that results in over 250,000 artificial accounts! Most universities have the resources and money to do this, by the way.

That is with the worst finances possible.

If they were to outsource this work, which is standard practice, the cost to control 250,000 artificial accounts drops to less than $50,000 per year for each university (assuming each worker gets paid $1,500 per year including benefits and taxes, etc., which is a standard wage for this type of outsourced work, plus $10,000 for various admin costs.)

$2 million…👇

#PhDVoice @PostdocVoice

[Re-energising Your Career @career_re]

#AcademicTwitter The night before your defence! #phdvoice #phdchat

[Niamh Dolly Fitzpatrick @Ndfitzpatrick01]

All ready for day 2 of the Margaret Cavendish Society International Conference 🙌
Super looking forward to all of the interesting papers today
#PhD #phdvoice #Conference

[Agnes @Agnes_poirotlab]

I think I am on the brink of realisation that the supervisor I was closer to us in fact worse for me. #phdlife #phdvoice

[Re-energising Your Career @career_re]

#AcademicTwitter 😂😂 #phdvoice #PhDlife

[Re-energising Your Career @career_re]

#AcademicTwitter The 3 Rules of 3 For Effective Communication!😃#phdlife #phdvoice

[RC Rajashik @iamrajashik]

The average time to complete a PhD across any discipline is 5.8 years. That’s longer than the time it takes to grow an apple tree, launch a Mars rover, or master 3 languages.

Patience isn’t just a virtue—it’s a survival skill.

@PhDVoice

[Ali Asif @AAsifalimaitlo]

Alhumdillah passed the candidacy exam, loading second milestone toward the Dr. and ready to face the last task which is most challenging part @PhDfriends @PhDVoice @PhDLifePro

[Dinesh @___Dinesh____]

We've been waiting for our NFOBC fellowship for the past 4 months. This delay is impacting our studies and research. #NFOBC #FellowshipDelay
@aiobcsa @PhDVoice @MSJEGOI @Drvirendrakum13 @the_hindu @htTweets @IndianExpress @nbcfdc @IndiaToday @ABPNews @TimesNow

[Dinesh @___Dinesh____]

For 4 months, NFOBC fellows haven’t received their fellowship. This delay is making life difficult and affecting their research. #NFOBC #FellowshipDelay @aiobcsa @PhDVoice @Drvirendrakum13 @CNNnews18 @ShashiTharoor @priyankagandhi @RahulGandhi @narendramodi @AmitShah @FinMinIndia

[Bioelectrodynamics @BioED_IPE]

🎉 Big congratulations to Kateřina Červinková! 🎉
We’re thrilled to share that she has successfully defended her PhD thesis:
Signal Modulators of the Ultra-Weak Photon Emission from Biological Cells. 🧬✨
Amazing work, well done! 🙌👏
@phdvoice #PhDChatter @CVUTPraha

[Dr Roisin #Cep @rfarragher21]

Delighted to share my latest article based on the meaning of 'Family' & 'Family Relationships' for young people with #careexperience. Published recently in the Irish Social Worker Journal. @IASW_IRL #CEP #SocialWork #AlternativeCare @coogandeclan @PhDVoice

[Nicola Chinchella @N_Chinche]

I am a PhD looking for a place to do my abroad period.

Specifically, I am looking for a Lab in Europe, including UK, where the effect of social media use is studied through psycological/neuroscientific tools.

Any hints?

@PhDVoice

[Joanna Grace PhD @jo3grace]

I'm caught in a correction loop #phdlife #phdchat #phdvoice @SouthCoastDTP @CRI_UoS @UoSDocCollege #AutisticsInAcademia

[Re-energising Your Career @career_re]

#AcademicTwitter 😂 #phdvoice #PhDlife

[Joanna Grace PhD @jo3grace]

Reindeer working on thesis corrections in front of tree bewilderingly decorated by the children. #phdlife #phdlife #phdchat #phdvoice @SouthCoastDTP @CRI_UoS @UoSDocCollege #AutisticsInAcademia

[Re-energising Your Career @career_re]

#AcademicTwitter Always makes me chuckle. 😂#phdlife #phdvoice

[Re-energising Your Career @career_re]

#AcademicTwitter Giving positive feedback has the biggest impact if given early, the longer you wait the less impact it has!😃#phdlife #phdvoice

[Chiara Tellarini @ChiaraTellarini]

Yesterday I submitted my PhD thesis!🥳

@GeckoItn

@PhDVoice

[RC Rajashik @iamrajashik]

Nearly 1 in 2 PhD students report experiencing anxiety or depression during their thesis journey—twice the average of highly educated non-PhD peers.

Universities must prioritize counseling, peer support, and W/L balance to provide a better environment for research.

@PhDVoice