Science and Social Media

Science and Social Media Why Every Lab Should TweetPresented at the University of Washington, Feb 13th, 2012 Christie Wilcox

Twitter Hashtag: #UWsmfs

28%... the percentage of Americans which pass a basic science literacy test.

"The scientiﬁc community needs to understand what ethical practitioners of public relations have long known: trust is not about information; it’s about dialogue and transparency" - Rick E. Borchelt, Lynne T . Friedmann, & Earle HollandManaging the Trust Portfolio: Science Public Relations and Social Responsibility

The Paywall

The Jargon Wall

Text Text“When I was in high school, if you were in the "so-called" pre-collegecurriculum, you had to take four years of science and four years ofmath - a waste of my time, a waste of my teachers time and a wasteof space.” - Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott

"Right now, this is an anti-intellectual country inwhich the media and politics constantly bombard us with the message that science is uncool, the domain of geeks and nerds." - PZ Myers, Associate Professor at University of Minnesota, Morris

Can you name a living scientist?

Albert Marie Curie?Einstien?

StephenHawking!

What the public thinks scientists look like...

... what scientistsactually look like!

"Every scientist reading this has a deeppassion for science. I implore you: let yourpassion out. Share it with us. Warmly, withstories, imagination, even with humor . But most of all, in your own voice." - Alan Alda

57% of Americans say theytalk to people online more than they do in real life.

Where do you get most of your newsabout national and international issues? TV Newspaper Internet Radio 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 2001 2005 2010 PEW Research Center, Dec 2010

Where do you get information on specific scientific issues? Don’t know 2% Family/Friends/Colleagues 2% Radio 1% The Internet is the main Newspapers & Magazines 10% Internet 54%source of information for learning about specific Books 7%scientific issues such asglobal climate change or biotechnology TV 21% University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center, General Social Survey (2008)

"Younger generations aren’t going to look foryour company or society in print—they’re going to go directly to your Web site and then maybeyour Facebook page, and, if interested, they will follow you on Twitter. If you’re not there, neither will they be—andyou’ve lost them at a critical point of contact." - Kea Giles Managing Editor at the Geological Society of America

18-29 yrs 30-49 yrs 50-64 yrs 65+ yrs 90% that use Social Media 67.5 45 22.5 0 2005 2008 2009 2010

18-29 yrs 30-49 yrs 50-64 yrs 65+ yrs 90% that use Social Media US 67.5 Scis 45 22.5 0 2005 2008 2009 2010

Dont think you need to be on Facebook?

Dont think you need to be on Facebook?72%of internetusers are.

Dont think you need to be on Facebook?72% 48% use it as theirof internet primary newsusers are. source

Dont think you need to be on Facebook?72% 48% 3 use it as their million linksof internet primary news shared everyusers are. source hour

"The qualities that makeTwitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful." Jonathan Zittrain Harvard University Law professor and Faculty Co-Director, Berkman Center for Internet and Society

"The essentials of whattwitter does is an integralpart of the news system of the future." David WinerHarvard University Research Fellow and former Wired Magazine Editor

Dont think you need to be on Twitter?

Dont think you need to be on Twitter? 1 billion newtweets every 5 days

Dont think you need to be on Twitter? 1 500 billion new million userstweets every per day 5 days

Dont think you need to be on Twitter? 1 500 5,530 billion new tweets per million users second duringtweets every per day the Japanese 5 days earthquake & tsunami

Dont think you need to be on Google+?

"... blog or be blogged." - Paul Knoepﬂer, UC Davis, in a comment in NatureNews

You want broader impacts?

You want broader impacts? I got yer broaderimpacts right here.

5,106 Tweets Per Second

>80,000pageviews...in 48 hours.

>12,000 pageviews... in a week.

Highly Cited Low/No Tweets Highly Tweeted

Low/No Tweets Highly Tweeted

Highly Cited Low/No Tweets Highly Tweeted

Reach New Audiences Globally... ...and locally

(you should practice your mad skillz, too)

Two words:Personal Branding.

“One of the things I hear most frequently about a new hire is how disturbing it is that he doesn’t have a web presence. Something must be wrong, right?” - Danah Boyd Assistant Professor, NYU; Visiting Researcher, Harvard Law

Graduate Students

Why am I talking to you?

Why am I talking to you? Youre the bestchoice for the job

"The in depth knowledge of their system and details of ﬁeld observations, experiments, conversations with colleagues and an extraordinary breadth of literature gives thescientist a pool of knowledge to draw from that often is unmatched by most science communicators." - Kevin Zelnio, blogger for Scientiﬁc American

Dont take my word for it...In 2007...• 50% of life scientists saw blogs, discussion groups, online communities, and social networking as beneficial to sharing ideas with colleagues• 85% thought social media affected their decision-makingWithin 5 Years...• > 50% “play a key role in shaping nearly all aspects of research workflow”• < 25% “have a major influence on grant application and funding”• > 25% “have a major influence on finding jobs”

Find Me Online! Twitter: @NerdyChristie Website: http://christiewilcox.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/christie.l.wilcoxBlog: http://blogs.scientiﬁcamerican.com/science-sushi

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Science and Social Media

by Christie Wilcox

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