Abstract
This article describes one aspect of a research project that sought to describe and interpret the perspectives of university colleagues who are community-engaged, about their community-engagement, within one research-intensive university in New Zealand. We explored the communication devices and processes used during community engagement, with a focus on social media, and in the context of identifying the professional development needs of colleagues within our institution. Our research involved an inductive analysis of 25 interviews with community-engaged university people, supported by context-generating discussions and workshops. Our data reveals reoccurring themes involving varying degrees of successful targeted use of social media, disappointment in the performance of social media, and confidence in traditional communication approaches. Overall we identified rational decision-making to find workable approaches, in an academic environment supported by skill transfer from private life to work life. We discuss the implications of our research to the roles and practices of academic development.