TCGA 2015 SymposiumTwitter Workshop for Scientists
Emma J. Spaulding, MPH@TCGAupdates
@emmajspaulding
Agenda
• Twitter Basics• 5 Reasons You Should Use Twitter• Twitter Terminology• Hits and Misses– From @TCGAupdates and Others
• Lessons Learned• Twitter Analytics
What is Twitter?
• Microblogging platform • New technology, old concept
5 Reasons You Should Care
1. Connect with people in a very public way2. Patient’s perspectives3. Follow conferences from afar4. It’s fun!5. Advance your career
1. Connect with people publicly
• Professionally
1. Connect with people publicly
• ….and personally.
2. Patient Perspectives
3. Follow Conferences
3. Follow Conferences
4. It’s fun!
• #Overlyhonestmethods
4. It’s fun! #Overlyhonestmethods
4. It’s fun!
• @SarcasticRover
4. It’s fun! @SarcasticRover
4. It’s fun! @SarcasticRover
5. Advance Your Career
• 94 % of employers are using social media as part of their recruiting strategies
• Only 20 to 30 percent of jobs are filled by people applying for published vacancies. It’s who you know.
• The easiest way to connect with potential employers is through social media.
• You can form online relationships with people who could help you in the offline world.
• LinkedIn is still the most widely-used career management web site, but Twitter enables you to engage in conversations with people
5. Advance Your Career
5. Advance Your Career
5. Advance Your Career
5. Advance Your Career
An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists, April 23, 2013
c/o Mark Story, @mstory123
Your Searchable Public Profile
• Facebook vs Twitter• Expect potential employers and collaborators
to scan through your social media presence as part of the selection process
• “…Scientists should use social media to make them "much more likely to be approached by someone looking for an expert in a particular field.”
• @emmaspaulding and @emmajspauldingc/o Mark Story, @mstory123
@emmaspaulding
@emmajspaulding
5. Advance Your Career
Publishing • Using Twitter, you can:
• Create additional links to your work: point people to other sites where you have published information, like ResearchGate, Google Scholar, Academia.edu or a prominent blog
• Make your voice heard: share your opinion on scientific matters in a very visible fashion
• Highly tweeted journal articles are 11 times more likely to be highly cited compared with those with minimal or no social media presence (source: Journal of Medical Internet Research)
c/o Mark Story, @mstory123
The Illustrated History of Twitter
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzRkszaGBbY
Twitter Terminology
Twitter Terminology
– Tweet: 140 character post– Tweet: Noun and verb
– Carolyn: Did you see that tweet saying what a great job Julia Zhang did organizing the conference?
– JC: Yes, I tweeted that during the morning break.
– Handle: your username (@TCGAupdates or @emmajspaulding)
– Followers: Other people on twitter who want to follow what you post
– Hashtag: Topic identifier (#TCGA or #TCGA15)– RT or MT: Tweeting another’s tweet with no or small changes– Favorite: Similar but more private
@reply
.@mention
Twitter Terminology
– Feed: the constantly updated stream of tweets from people you follow
– URL shortener: makes a shorter version of a link so that it uses up fewer characters• Often automatic, Bit.ly
– Live-tweeting: Tweeting what’s happening from a conference
Best Practices
• Twitter as a cocktail party• Getting Started– Brevity• Additional Content• Photos
– NCI’s Visuals Online: https://visualsonline.cancer.gov – CDC's Public Health Image Library:
http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/home.asp– Flickr's "The Commons": https://www.flickr.com/commons– Wikimedia Commons:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
c/o Mark Story, @mstory123
Best Practices
• Don’t hashtag dump
Best Practices
• Engage with your followers– Have you used @23andme? What did you think?– Ancestry.com’s genetic testing? Interesting? Worth
it?– Personalized medicine or precision medicine?
• Twitter or 3rd Party Apps– Tweetdeck and Hootsuite
• If you’re unsure, don’t.
Hits and Misses
• From @TCGAupdates and others• Twitter Analytics
Hit from @TCGAupdates
Hit from @TCGAupdates
Miss from @TCGAupdates
Miss from @TCGAupdates
Miss from @TCGAupdates
Others’ Hits
Others’ Hits
Others’ Hits
Others’ Misses
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVHlCtX5Ucs (00:59)
Others’ Misses
Others’ Misses
Lessons Learned
• Check your hashtags• Use specific hashtags• A twitter misstep is not the end of the world
Check your hashtag: #RhoA
Check your hashtag: #RhoA
Use specific hashtags: #cancer
Another type of #cancer
Another type of #cancer
Another type of #cancer
Another type of #cancer
Another type of #cancer
Another type of #cancer
Use specific hashtags: #cancergenomics
Use specific hashtags: The Healthcare Hashtag Project
• http://www.symplur.com/healthcare-hashtags/
Use specific hashtags: The Healthcare Hashtag Project
Accidental Tweets
Accidental Tweets
• Not the end of the world• Private person, not official account• You monitor your account most closely• Can always delete
Twitter Analytics:analytics.twitter.com
Terms and Definitions
• Twitter’s analytics website – analytics.twitter.com
• Impression – number of times a user saw our tweet
• Engagements – number of times users interacted with our tweet
• Engagement Rate - Engagements ÷ Impressions• Twitter’s Promoted Tweets – 3-5% Engagement Rate
Engagement
What’s a good engagement rate?
• Twitter’s Promoted Tweets – 3-5% Engagement Rate
• Tweets from #AACR15
Tour of Twitter Analytics
Tweet Details
Successful Tweet
IDing a Successful Tweet
ID a Failed Tweet
ID a Failed Tweet
Take Aways
• Don’t delay!• Get on and start listening • Resources available
c/o Christie Wilcox, @NerdyChristie
Acknowledgements
• Teagan Keating Kuruna (@TeaganMPH)
• Mark Story (@mstory123)
Questions?
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