Australian Society for Stem Cell Research Workshop Presentation November 25 2012

1. Social media for scientists
Sarah Keenihan
PhD | B Med Sci | Grad Dip Sci Comms

2. Why should I communicate?
“Most researchers have highlighted that social and ethical
implications exist in their research, agree that the public
needs to know about them, and believe that researchers
themselves have a duty, as well as a primary responsibility,
for communicating their research and its implications to the
non-specialist public.”
Royal Society. Factors affecting science communication: a survey of
scientists and engineers, 2006.

3. Communicating science
Peer-reviewed publication
Thesis
Book chapter
Conference abstract & slides/poster
Grant/fellowship application
Industry presentation

4. Communicating science
Peer-reviewed publication
Thesis
Book chapter
Conference abstract & slides/poster
Grant/fellowship application
Industry presentation
Annual report
Long-form weekend article
Industry publication
News article
Press release
Newsletter
Popular science article

5. Communicating science

6. Social media: a definition
• Social media describes the online tools that people use to share
content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and
media itself, thus facilitating conversations and interaction online
- democratisation of content
- central role of people in
creating and sharing content
- shift from broadcast to
‘many-to-many model’
- conversational
Simon Divecha, Mal Chia, Petra Dzurovcinova, Sarah Thomas
http://www.briansolis.com

7. Why should I use social media?
• It’s fun!
• It’s free!
• Find new /engage existing audiences
• Develop communication skills
• Belong to communities
• Meet more scientists
• Find career opportunities
• Find funding & collaboration opportunities

8. Why should I use social media?
Academic paper downloads: Melissa Terras
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/04/19/blog-tweeting-papers-worth-it/

9. Blogs
• flexible
• relatively long-form
• ready to use platforms eg Wordpress
• create your own style, layout, ‘brand’
• conversations through comments facility
• http://www.ipscell.com (Paul)
• http://othersideofscience.com (Noby)
• http://scienceforlife365.wordpress.com (Sarah)

10. Facebook
• Everyone!
- individuals, groups, associations, communities,
brands, businesses
• Ready to go: updates, photos, blog posts, links
• http://www.facebook.com/scienceforlife365

11. Facebook: ScienceAlert
Chris Casella: “people love science, and people love Facebook”

12. Facebook: ScienceAlert

13. Facebook: Impact of Social Sciences
joint project between the LSE, Imperial College, and the University of Leeds

14. Facebook: Impact of Social Sciences

15. Facebook: you’re not really in control
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back

16. Twitter
• short, sharp, shiny
communication:
140 characters
• to know Twitter, you
must do Twitter
• make a profile with a
photo/image
• find people to follow
(can later ‘unfollow’)
• tweet!

17. Twitter
profiles
matter

18. Twitter: real-time science
START

19. Twitter: live event coverage
Hashtag
Attributing comments
Storify

20. Refining your twitter experience
• Create lists to manage
your stream
• Use hashtags to follow
specific conversations
• Participate in organised
chats
#onsci #phdchat
• Use tools
eg Hootsuite,
Tweetdeck
• Use Storify.com to
see/create archives

21. Useful places to go
• Social Media for Marketing Science, S. Keenihan & K. Alford
http://bridge8.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/b8_socmed_mar
ketingscience.pdf
• Twitter in university research, teaching and impact activities.
A guide for academics and researchers, A. Mollett, D. Moran,
P. Dunleavy
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/files/2011/11/P
ublished-Twitter_Guide_Sept_2011.pdf
• Scienceonline
http://scienceonlinenow.org
- Google hangouts

22. Social media has broader lessons
The algorithms at Facebook privilege photographs
because they are what people are most likely to interact
with. And users love a picture that’s worth a thousand
words, four thousand Facebook likes, 900 retweets, a
bunch of hearts, and some reblogs: everyone likes
being an important node. The whole system tilts
towards the consumption of visual content, of pictures
and infographics and image macros.
Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic via
http://betterposters.blogspot.com.au

23. ASSCR social media activity
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/18242587846
5/
• @ASSCRStemCells #ASSCR2012

24. See you on twitter