Life Beyond LOLcats: Science and Social Media

Bethany R. Brookshire, PhD“Scicurious”@scicurious

scicurious@gmail.com

Jeff Atwood, codinghorror.com

The internet: friend or foe?

One model of the online science ecosystem

Rob Helpy-Chalk

Why use the internet?

Bik & Goldstein 2013, PLOS Biology

A look on a linear scale: new media dominates

Bik & Goldstein 2013, PLOS Biology

The Internet: A Whole New World

So You Want to Be on the Internet…

Define your Goals• Examples of goals:

• Disseminate information about a discrete event, such as a field expedition

• Build a community of your scientific peers

• Further specific policy or education goals (e.g., climate change legislation)

• Communicate your science directly to a general audience

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Different goals lead to different outreach strategies

Bik & Goldstein 2013, PLOS Biology

Goals & time committment determine tools

Bik & Goldstein 2013, PLOS Biology

Finding Your Niche: New Content

Finding Your Niche: New Perspective

Finding Your Niche: Curation

Finding Your Niche: BE YOU

• http://i.imgur.com/vsmGS.gif

Case Studies

• Social Media has “social” in it for a reason

The Good

The World Listened!

The Bad

The World Listened…Oops.

The Ineffective• Blogs– Be prepared to put in the time

• Twitter– Who you follow – Who you tweet at/for

• Facebook– When to engage

Involvement makes or breaks social media

Maintaining professionalism

Using Social Media

• Content =/= Audience!!• Advertise– Tweet– Google +

• Network• No really, Network

Tips and Tricks

• Make Yourself Easy• Get in Touch– Tweet, email, leave a comment! We don’t bite.

• Tags and Topics• Make a Series

Questions

Putting it in to Practice