Scientific Research - Social Media and Networking Platforms

One of the things I have grown to learn through my job as a Research Administrator is the prevalence of the scientific field, how collaborative in nature it is to have larger collaborative teams working together to produce results sometimes larger than themselves.

With the growth of the internet age, information can appear to come from all sides and can be overwhelming at times. The use of social media tools can be greatly valued to help keep focus and perspective on specific areas and fields. As fmwaetcher.com discusses, the traditional nature of communication is unidirectional (scientific conferences or articles published in peer-reviewed journals), but the longer-term narrative contrasts with the current evolution of communicative preferences across the globe. The two-way interactive exchanges in social media platforms can open more avenues of conversations between people of a wide variety of backgrounds. There has been some resistance among scientists and researchers preferring to use more professional networks with a clear scientific or academic focus, such as Researchgate or Mendeley, and it begs the question of whether platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin are being unfairly overlooked and could contribute something to scientific research. In the research institution I work in, Facebook is becoming more accepted as there has been more of a recent push into more emerging fields and need more funding and developing projects, and our clinic seeking more participants for a specific clinical trial. These approaches appear to be more well-received by the local community as news over the internet travels faster than word of mouth, and the smaller research institution is quickly becoming more well known.

Additionally, as fmwaetcher.com discusses, Facebook’s social nature makes it easier to find audiences with similar concerns or collaborate on projects ranging from research sponsorships to event funding. Linkedin has a wider acceptance among scientists, maybe due to the idea that this network as a high-profile and professional focus. But the platform can offer more than just the option to create an online profile and can become the virtual equivalent of a lab meeting or discussion between like-minded professionals.

Twitter is often used to interact with fellow scientists, tweet with each other about research, or link to relevant articles. Two features of Twitter can be very useful to the scientific fields: conference hashtags and lists can help create online communities of individuals with common interests and goals. Twitter can be used to report the scientific process by providing raw data. Researchers, scientists, and conference organizers can gain extremely valuable insights into how social media users react and interact with news, and these findings can show patterns and modify online strategies to reach a wider audience in terms that make sense. In order to make the most of social media and networking, the focus on the audience and focus on purpose.  All of this information is very informative for people of all academic levels to keep in mind when considering which social media tools to use for what they are trying to achieve.

Reference

Waetcher, F. (No date). Social Media For Science and Research: Current Trends And Future Possibilities. (Web page). Retrieved from Share this postShare this posthttps://fmwaechter.com/social-media-science-research/#:~:text=Social%20media%20networks%20can%20help,science%20communication%20between%20different%20stakeholders.