The Research Information Network’s report, If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0, investigates the use of, and attitudes towards, web 2.0 tools and services among the research community. Using a quantitative survey of researchers, in-depth interviews with academics and case studies of five web 2.0 communities, it finds that while most researchers have a positive attitude towards web 2.0 services, only a few have made them a routine part of their working life.

It is suggested that web 2.0 tools, which allow internet users to create, share and repurpose information, have enormous potential for academic researchers, enabling them to communicate their research and its findings more rapidly, broadly and effectively than before. However, this report suggests that for most researchers the benefits of using web 2.0 tools are not yet sufficiently clear to incentivise uptake. Even frequent users tend to see web 2.0 services as an addition to, rather than a replacement for, traditional scholarly communications techniques.