Social Media for Scientists

Social media for scientists
What? Why? How?
Sabine Hossenfelder, Nordita

Before we get started...
A common reaction I get from physicists who first hear that I
write a blog is:
“I’m not that extroverted.”
So let me assure you...

It’s not about being extroverted.
... because you cannot technically be any more introverted than I.
Don’t be afraid of the “social” in “social media” - be yourself.

Then what is it about?
It’s about science
• Science is a community enterprise
• Science is human
• Science develops
To be a good scientist, you have to take part.

Science Communication
Networking
Public Outreach
Must
Should Maybe...

Must Have
• A clean Google footprint
• An institutional website*
• A CV and complete publication list
• An ORCID id
• If most papers on the arxiv, get an arxiv ID
Why?
• Be available for questions about your research*
• Be accountable for your institution
• Don’t miss out on opportunities
* Use separate email accounts for work
and private life, or filter your inbox.

Social Networking. What?
• Have an account for at least one of the following
» Google Scholar and Google+
» LinkedIn
» ResearchGate
» Twitter
» Facebook
Twitter, fb and G+ are
increasingly used to
create one-click accounts
Focus on what
matters to you!

Nature 512, 126–129 (14 August 2014)

Social Networking. What?
• Maintain contacts
• Make new contacts
• Check out new employers/employees
• Remain up to date
• Remain relevant
You can do it actively
or passively.

Social Networking. Why?
• Don’t wait for information to come your way. Go get it.
• Don’t sit and wait for information to spread. Go share it.
• Keep track of research and filter it to your needs.
• Find support.
Good tools help you
work more
efficiently
Turn off constant
notifications,
esp push.

Twitter
• Share notes of 140 characters or less, often links
• Can share images
• Follow people, institutions or magazines
• Organize your feed by using lists
• Reach large audience by using hashtags, eg #scicomm
• Good to draw attention to interesting work and to add
short comments
• Not good for in depth discussion
• Short messages are prone to misunderstanding
• Incredibly popular service with very diverse audience

What scientists say about twitter
“It's allowed me to open up new communities for discussions and increase
the interdisciplinarity of my research.” -- Cassidy Sugimoto, information
scientist
“These are candidates that I wouldn't have otherwise reached.” -- Matthew
MacManes, genomic biologist
“I get to know who many of the candidates are as I have also been following
them” --Iain Couzin, evolutionary biologist
“I discovered a whole community of astronomers and physicists who use
Twitter as a kind of ongoing virtual conference coffee break, without the
constraints of timing or location.” -- Katie Mack, astrophysicist

What scientists say about twitter
“Social media has been a big part of building my own reputation... I’m regularly
invited to speak at conferences and give departmental seminars… many of these
invitations happen because students and other researchers know about my
work through Twitter. ” – Holly Bik, biologist

Facebook
• Most popular social networking site
• Follow people, magazines, institutions, join interest groups
• Make “friends” with new people
• Share and discuss links, updates, images, videos
• Very well integrated with many other apps
• Very useful to remain in contact with people you’ve met
• Good place to also discuss academia and work-life balance
• Organize news feed and targets of your posts by using lists
• The usefulness of facebook for science depends crucially
how well you organize your feeds and friend lists

Discussing papers on facebook
Tag ppl who you think might
know more.

Use privacy settings to
target desired audience.

“I read this paper and didn’t
understand this, can
somebody explain it?”

And just to prove that I’m not
the only one using facebook
for that purpose…

LinkedIn
• The probably best known professional networking site
• Useful to get introduced to friends of friends
• No feed clutter
• Lists your work experience
• Lists skills by “endorsement” (accuracy depends strongly
on how well your contacts know you)
• Features for job search and job offers (not very on target)
• Useful to make contacts outside of academia
• Have not heard of it being of much use in academia

ResearchGate
• Like on Linkedin you get “endorsed” for skills
• Next to work experience you can also list publications
• You get updates about your contacts’ publications etc
• Q&A feature that allows you to collect reputation points.
(Questions are recommended based on listed expertise)
• Some people have complained about un-turn-offable
spam notifications (I don’t seem to have this problem)
• Also get job offers (more on target, but very few)
• Less unscientific clutter than facebook, but also less
personal background (ie you might still want to use some
other networking site for colleagues who are also friends)

Google+
• Same as facebook but with fewer people
• Better integrated with Gmail
• I do not see much scientific discussion on G+

Science Communication. What?
• Discuss: Educate and learn
• Make your and other’s research better known
• Engage
• Inspire
• Make new contacts
• Get new inspiration
• …

Science Communication. Why?
• To demonstrate and practice expertise
• To benefit your colleagues and/or the public
• To draw interest to yourself and your research
• To make new connections and advance your research
• To have fun.
You can produce
or respond

It’s a correlation!
“[B]eing mentioned on Twitter amplifies the effect of
interactions with journalists and other non-scientists on the
scholar’s scientific impact… The current study provides the first
comprehensive empirical evidence that outreach activities,
such as interactions with reporters and being mentioned on
Twitter, can assist a scientist’s career by promoting his or her
scientific impact.”
Liang et al, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, September 12, 2014

Science Communication. How?
• Q & A
» ResearchGate
» Physics Stack Exchange
» Physics Forums
» And previously mentioned networking platforms
• Blog
» Wordpress
» Blogger
• Visuals
» YouTube
» Tumblr
Start with one!
Build reputation,
then diversify.

“In Physics, blogs allow scientists to keep up to date with
the most important developments taking place in fields of
research differing from their specialized background.
They also provide an ideal platform for an informal
exchange of ideas “off the record”. But blogs also provide
a significant access point to the global knowledge of the
pool of users: writing a blog allows the owner to get in
contact with colleagues and to learn from them.”
- Tommaso Dorigo, particle physicist

Paige Brown Jarreau #MySciBlog

Public Outreach. What?
• Next to communicating science, also tell people about
o Life in academia
o Your institution
o Your opinion on topics of interest
o Yourself

Public Outreach. Why?
• Increase visibility of yourself/your institution
• Make contacts, open new opportunities
• As creative outlet
• Practice writing, speaking, communicating
• Contribute to public debate
• …

Public Outreach. Why?
“It is a good way to connect with the general public
and communicate an understanding of our work,
which I think is a moral obligation particularly when
our work is publicly funded.”
-- Brian Koberlein, astrophysicist

Public Outreach. How?
Institutional:
• Hire somebody to do it
Personal:
• Build a presence on social media
• Produce content
• Share wisely
• Be useful
• Be reciprocal From nothing
comes nothing

Science Communication
Networking
Public Outreach
Obtain, organize, and share information
about research and job opportunities
Maintain and make new contacts
Explain your own and other’s research
to colleagues or the public
Discuss, get feedback, broaden
Increase visibility, educate and inspire
Make science cool, fun, and demonstrate
its relevance for our societies

Social Media for Scientists

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