Can a tweet become a job offer? U-M research suggests yes
May 5, 2026
ANN ARBOR—Social media promotion can boost visibility and job outcomes for early-career scholars, especially women.
New analysis from researchers at the University of Michigan School of Information suggests a single post can significantly increase a candidate’s visibility. In some cases, it may even land them a job.
The study, which appears in the May issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that when early-career researchers receive social media amplification from senior scholars, their work receives significantly more attention.
In a randomized field experiment conducted during the 2022-23 economics job market cycle, UMSI and Research Center for Group Dynamics professor Yan Chen and collaborators invited more than 2,700 candidates across North America and Europe to participate in a field experiment. Nearly 600 people opted in, and all submissions were posted to a research Twitter account (now X).
Half of the participants were then randomly selected to have their work amplified by senior scholars in their field, who quote-tweeted the papers to their own networks.
“We wanted to understand whether attention itself and something as simple as visibility on social media could have a causal impact on job market outcomes,” Chen said.
The results were striking.
Papers in the treatment group saw a 400% increase in views and a 290% increase in likes compared to those that were not amplified. While this visibility did not significantly affect early-stage interviews, it did impact the hiring process later in the process. Candidates whose work was promoted received, on average, one additional campus visit and slightly more job offers overall.
The impact was especially pronounced for women, who received one additional job offer on average.
“That’s a substantial difference,” Chen said. “It suggests that increasing visibility can help address some of the inequities we already know exist in academic labor markets.”
The study, Chen says, was motivated by longstanding disparities in academia. Women and underrepresented groups remain less likely to receive senior faculty positions. Research has also found that women are less likely to promote their own work on social media.
“Women are generally less likely to go out and say, ‘I have this great paper,'” she said. “So, we wanted to test whether external promotion could help level the playing field.”
The other research authors were UMSI doctoral student Jingyi Qiu; Alain Cohn, U-M associate professor of information; and Alvin Roth, professor of economics at Stanford University.
Study: Social media promotion improves job market outcomes
Contact: Noor Hindi, 734-647-0999, [email protected]
Jared Wadley, 734-834-7719, [email protected]