Academia.edu – This marriage between academic research and social networking is a didactic match made in heaven.  Academia.edu allows academics all over the world to “follow the latest research in their field.” Once you have created your own profile (it’s free!), you can invite your colleagues over, decide which researchers you would like to follow, upload papers you have published, lectures you have given, even posts and status updates you have posted.

When you think about it, Academia.edu’s added value is huge: the free service allows each researcher (regardless of rank) to create their own web page listing all of their material. The viewing and downloads of these, along with key search words people use online to search for any researcher can be tracked via Academia.edu’s system. This is phenomenal and all for a great cause: sharing and expanding the dialogue of research all over. Great job, Academia.edu team! I’ve created an account based on my B.A. major, Anthropology. Here’s a screen shot of it.