social media for science communication, #viscoast 2015
TRANSCRIPT
Social Media for Science CommunicationPAIGE BROWN JARREAU
SHOW ME THE COAST 2015
#VISCoast
What is social media?
• MailChimp
• Blogs
• SnapChat
• YouTube
“Social media platforms aren’t just digital water coolers. They are the way the world is networking and communicating. They are how andwhere we share information – with friends, colleagues, acquaintances and any and everyone else.” – Christie Wilcox
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Why Use Social Media?
• Boost your professional profile
• Networking, recruiting students
• Reach new audiences
• Act as a public voice for science
• Make science accessible
• Online outreach can help you get (NSF) funding!
• Open science & collaboration
"Those that have the privilege to know, have the duty to act."
- Albert Einstein.
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Know How to Use it
“Online social media tools can be some of the most rewarding and informative resources for scientists –IF you know how to use them.”
– Bik & Goldstein 2013, An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists
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So you want to use social media for science communication?
• Remember:• Social media is SOCIAL. Two-way
communication and engagement is key.
• Respond.
• Social media isn’t a replacement for interesting, original, useful and compelling content.
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What gets shared?• Social Currency – give people something
to talk about; make them feel like insiders
• Triggers – What gets more word of mouth on social media, Cheerios or Disney World? Hint – think “daily.”
• Emotion – science news articles are often on the top emailed lists
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“Simply put, it was amazing.” - Contagious
Share-inducing emotions are high
arousal (awe, excitement, humor, anger, anxiety) not
sadness or contentment
What gets shared?
• Public – can people SEE it? Make it visual (think bright yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands; Tidy Streets)
• Practical Value – Is this useful information?
• Stories – Stories are fundamentally about social interaction – and social interaction is central for human beings.
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“Fiction is great – it can help us really feel the horror of what we’re headed for, change our lives in a deeper way than scientific projections alone could do, and give us ideas to help us adapt to the change.” – Jane Rawson
Narrative structures that have been proposed to enhance popular interest in science:
• History – the history of a field, of a scientific discovery
• The scientist’s story
• Drama – a problem that science can or has solved
• The “hard-fought” discovery
• The (solved or unsolved) mystery
• The untold story
Think about your Goals
• What do you want out of your social media experience?
• Increased citations for your papers?
• Increased visibility of your research?
• Outlet for opinions?
• Collaboration?
• Open data and sharing?
• Translation of science for broad audience?
• Engagement with key audiences?
• Feedback?
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Think about your Audience
• Don’t assume all social media platforms are created equal in terms of audience
• Younger audiences? Snapchat, Tumblr, Instagram…
• Female audiences? Pinterest…
• Journalists? Twitter (largely a news source)…
• Other scientists? Twitter, Facebook…
• Wide audiences? Facebook (home-base)…
71% of US Internet users are on Facebook. – Heidi Cohen
BuzzFeed’s #2 source of social media traffic
Unlock hidden beauty in your science
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A good start:
• Choose 2 key social media outlets to focus on
• Follow social media accounts of scientists, science communicators, others w/ similar interests • (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn)
• Bring your science to the blogosphere• Scilogs.com has a guest blog
• Medium.com
• Start your own blog, OR join a group blog (Wordpress, SquareSpace, Blogger)
News written by academic experts: Become an author @ https://theconversation.com/become-an-author
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A new database of scientists online, searchable by research interests and field of study.
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• Among the commonly used social media, the 140-character microblogging service Twitter has been popular.
Followers of scientists on Twitter
Emily Darling. figshare.http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.704858
A virtual department to spark and share new ideas
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Tweeting Tips• You have 140 characters
• use them wisely but accurately
• Use URL shorteners: • bit.ly
• ow.ly
• goo.gl
• Add a Hashtag (#)• This marks it as a keyword within the Tweet and turns it into a link. Once
clicked, it will bring up a list of other Tweets that include the same keyword.
#fridaynightscience#SciComm#SciArt#CitizenScience#Conservation
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#WomenInSci#STEM#ECRchat#ScienceMatters#openscience
Early career researchers
“A majority of established bloggers (72% of 126 blogs surveyed) use Twitter as a complementary outlet for disseminating new blog posts to followers.”
Shema H, Bar-Ilan J, Thelwall M (2012) Research blogs and
the discussion of scholarly information. PLoS ONE 7: e35869
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035869.
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Other Online Tools
• Blogs – continuous, long-form science narratives
• Facebook – networking
• Digg, Reddit – content aggregation
• Twitter – in the moment conversation, customized news streams, building and maintaining communities
• Instagram – visual, simple content
• Snap chat – short video clip storytelling
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• Professionalization
• Openness and Spreadability
• Spreadable and Creative Commons models
• Blogging styles that are conversational and open to feedback
Trends in science blogging
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• Rise of a science blog ecosystem
• Increasing role of science blogs and social networks (Twitter) in science communication and science news
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500 recent tweets mentioning “SciLogs”Conversations
based on blog content have
moved to social media
“Today, quick updates, links etc.
are done mainly on social media and
many bloggers use the traditional
blogging software only for longer, more thorough,
one could even say more ‘professional’
writing.”
– BoraZ, 2012We can see different “communities” here
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• Traditional blog functions
• Debunking
• Expert opinions
• Media Criticism
• Community building among scientists
• Translation of scientific research
• New blog functions
• Science journalism
• Sources of science news
• Curation
• Critical analysis
• Discussion of science missing from mainstream media
• Opening up the science research process
• Citizen science, etc.
• Adding value and advancing the conversation around scientific issues
xkcd.com/386/
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Experimenting with Science BlogsMultimedia /
Lives of ScientistsExperimenting with content –
Science Book A Day
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“To me, science isn’t about being told by scientists that ‘this is science’ but for people to build an understanding and engagement with science in their
own way.”
- Science blogger George Aranda, AKA @PopSciGuyOz
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Blogging driven by visuals
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Why do visuals matter online?
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This is why. Do you want to read this blog site?
#1 – iPhone pics
#2 – Illustration Apps
Manga Camera - freeSketch Club - $2.99Halftone - Price: $0.99
- Import photos, choose filter, crop, edit, move your versatile little thought-, word- and labeling-balloons around and label the images as you feel is necessary.
Taking good mobile pictures…
• Shoot during golden hour (sunrise, sunset hours): Harsh midday shadows can make difficult exposures with typical smartphone sensors.
• Tap the phone to focus on objects that are close-up or backlit
• Get closer & create depth: take detailed shots, and getting close to your subject allows background to blur out of focus (shallow depth of field)
• Try unique perspectives (shoot from down low or straight above…)
• Bold shapes, strong highlights and shadows often make great black and white photos.
• Upload your pictures straight to Twitter; Make FB albums
Fun & UnusualBright photosSimple is better.
Student Lab Visits -https://scicommlsu.wordpress.com
Looking for a home for your photos? Try Flickr.com, or a SquareSpace or Photoshelter gallery
Need a science illustrator?
• Science Artists on Twitter -https://twitter.com/Symbiartic/lists/science-artists/members
http://science-art.com/
http://bioillustration.deviantart.com/
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/2013/10/27/hire-a-science-illustrator/
Think Outside the Box
“To me, science isn’t about being told by scientists that ‘this is science’ but for people to build an understanding
and engagement with science in their own way.”- Science blogger George Aranda,
AKA @PopSciGuyOz
Visual Maps and Storytelling
Mobile Messaging turned Science Communication
Other social media tools• SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/)
• Create podcasts – easily embed them into blog posts
• Canva – create graphics and info-graphics
https://www.canva.com/
Being Accurate
• You CAN maintain scientific accuracy and rigor in your blog posts and social media posts.
• Link to original research studies
• Remember proper attribution to pictures, statistics, quotes, etc.
• Learn to be concise but avoid buzzwords that can be misleading (“cure” “breakthrough”)
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But what if…
• I don’t have enough time?
• It’s OK to not always keep up to date; take “vacations” from social media
• Only post when you are motivated to do so
• Most science bloggers only post 1/week – 1/month
• Post what you are passionate about
• Make it a routine
• Post as a GROUP
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Thank you!
Please take our workshop feedback survey!
http://bit.ly/VIScoast2015
References• It’s Time for Scientists to Tweet: http://theconversation.com/its-time-for-
scientists-to-tweet-14658
• Social Networking for Scientists: The Wiki http://socialnetworkingforscientists.wikispaces.com/General
• How to Build an Enduring Online Research Presence Using Social Networking and Open Science, SlideShare, Titus Brown http://www.slideshare.net/c.titus.brown/2013-beaconcongresssocialmedia
• Darling et al. (2013).The role of Twitter in the life cycle of a scientific publication. https://peerj.com/preprints/16v1/
• Bik, H. M., & Goldstein, M. C. (2013). An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists. PLoS biology, 11(4), e1001535.
• Images: Flickr by Jason A. Howie; Wikipedia; Screenshots