Social Media for Researchers �#microBEnet

Holly Bik Eisen Lab, UC Davis Genome Center

2nd Conference on the Microbiology of the Built Environment May 22-24, 2013

“Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Social Media tools & their uses Short-form (more ephemeral, minimal time investment)

•  Twitter – messages <140 characters, can post thoughts, soundbytes, links, pictures, videos.

•  Facebook – personal profiles (pictures, status updates, etc.), groups and “pages”. But people can be wary about privacy settings (not accepting friend requests professional colleagues, or eschewing Facebook altogether).

•  Microblogging – Tumblr (photos, quotes), Pinterest (visual ‘pinboard’ of images)

Social Media tools & their uses Long-form (more longevity, but more time investment) •  Blogs – independent (e.g. a free Blogger/Wordpress

account) or linked to an established blog network (Scientific American, Nature Network)

•  Video content – Youtube. Catchy visuals can be more effective than long written pieces. Difficult and time consuming to achieve high production quality.

•  Podcasting – iTunes. Another different media form. Also can be just as time consuming to produce as video content.

Social Media & the Built Environment

•  http://microbe.net - portal website (blog, simple guides, upcoming events)

•  Twitter – conference tweeting, asking questions, personalized news feed – #microBEnet

•  Google+ hangouts – free teleconference, group discussions

http://www.microbe.net/

a Tweet, dissected

Twitter Handle

Hashtag

Share Now

Save Share Later

Conference Tweeting •  Tweeting soundbytes from talks – taking

notes, disseminating conference content

•  Discussing talks with other audience members (and remote participants) during conference sessions

•  Networking - interactions on twitter can introduce you to new people, and also serve as icebreakers before you meet other conference participants in real life

Storify  

http://storify.com

Google+ Hangout

How do I start? •  Define your goals –  What do you want to achieve?

•  Define your audience –  Who do you envision talking to? Other scientists

(inside/outside your discipline)? Journalists? Educators? The general public?

•  Choose specific platforms which help you achieve your goals –  How much time do you want to invest? –  What medium is best for conferring your message?

Research

– Community building - Particularly relevant for niche topics or interdisciplinary research

– Content curation – linking to and amalgamating media sources, e.g. news articles, videos, Storifys

Outreach

–  Increasing the visibility of scientists (and branding them as ‘experts’)

– Cutting out the middleman - scientists can communicate directly with interested members of the public. Conversations are also archived for future reference (dependent on platform)

Tips and Guidance •  Scientific benefits can result – New collaborations, manuscripts, research

funding, interactions across the boundaries of your discipline, increased efficiency (e.g. obtaining PDFs, getting quick answers to questions), obtaining samples or leveraging others’ fieldwork

•  Online interactions will broaden your real networks

Tips and Guidance •  Social Media requires an initial time investment

–  Setting up accounts, exploring features, connecting with others –  OK to initially observe and "lurk” –  Explore different tools and decide what works best. Consistent

use of fewer tools is better than spreading yourself too thin.

•  Don't be afraid to ask for help –  There are many established and friendly communities online

where people are always willing to help

•  Social Media will save you time in the long run –  Provides filters and customization for information –  Many existing tools for aggregation and cross-platform

synching

Perils – external perceptions •  Perception and reputation in research – “When do you have time to do science?”

•  Aimless interactions or misdirected goals – Lots of information on the internet and it’s

easy to get overloaded with different tools and lightspeed conversations

– Distraction potential – wasting time

The Importance of Metrics •  Online tools give us metrics to track the impact

and dissemination of online content – Data is critical for quantifying impact and refining

the use of online tools for researchers – Data will also be necessary for promoting

acceptance in academic circles; metrics dispel the perception that online activities are a “waste of time”, e.g. in job searches, tenure review, tracking project outputs

–  ImpactStory - http://impactstory.it – Website statistics – StatCounter, Google Analytics

Bik HM, Goldstein MC (2013) An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists. PLoS Biology, 11(4):e1001535.