Talk slides for talk presented at the University of Washington on February 13th, 2012. https://depts.washington.edu/coenv/news-blog/tag/cosee-olc/#.T0VNznJWrR8

1. Science and Social Media
Why Every Lab Should Tweet
Presented at the University of Washington, Feb 13th, 2012
Christie Wilcox

2. Twitter Hashtag:
#UWsmfs

3. 28%

4. 28%
... the percentage of Americans which
pass a basic science literacy test.

6. "The scientific community needs to
understand what ethical
practitioners of public relations
have long known: trust is not about
information; it’s about dialogue
and transparency"
- Rick E. Borchelt, Lynne T . Friedmann, & Earle Holland
Managing the Trust Portfolio: Science Public Relations and Social Responsibility

9. The Paywall

12. The Paywall

14. The Jargon Wall

18. Text
Text
“When I was in high school, if you were in the "so-called" pre-college
curriculum, you had to take four years of science and four years of
math - a waste of my time, a waste of my teacher's time and a waste
of space.”
- Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott

19. "Right now, this is an anti-intellectual country in
which the media and politics constantly bombard
us with the message that science is uncool, the
domain of geeks and nerds."
- PZ Myers,
Associate Professor at University of Minnesota, Morris

20. Can you name a living scientist?

22. Albert Marie Curie?
Einstien?

24. Stephen
Hawking!

25. What the public thinks
scientists look like...

26. ... what scientists
actually look like!

27. "Every scientist reading this has a deep
passion for science. I implore you: let your
passion out. Share it with us. Warmly, with
stories, imagination, even with humor . But
most of all, in your own voice."
- Alan Alda

31. 57% of Americans say they
talk to people online more
than they do in real life.

32. Where do you get most of your news
about national and international issues?
TV Newspaper Internet Radio
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2001 2005 2010
PEW Research Center, Dec 2010

33. Where do you get most of your news
about national and international issues?
TV Newspaper Internet Radio
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2001 2005 2010
PEW Research Center, Dec 2010

34. Where do you get most of your news
about national and international issues?
TV Newspaper Internet Radio
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
2001 2005 2010
PEW Research Center, Dec 2010

35. Where do you get information on
specific scientific issues?
Don’t know 2%
Family/Friends/Colleagues 2%
Radio 1%
The Internet is the main Newspapers & Magazines 10%
Internet 54%
source of information for
learning about specific Books 7%
scientific issues such as
global climate change or
biotechnology TV 21%
University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center, General Social Survey (2008)

36. "Younger generations aren’t going to look for
your company or society in print—they’re going
to go directly to your Web site and then maybe
your Facebook page, and, if interested, they will
follow you on Twitter.
If you’re not there, neither will they be—and
you’ve lost them at a critical point of contact."
- Kea Giles
Managing Editor at the Geological Society of America

38. 18-29 yrs 30-49 yrs 50-64 yrs 65+ yrs
90
% that use Social Media
67.5
45
22.5
0
2005 2008 2009 2010

39. 18-29 yrs 30-49 yrs 50-64 yrs 65+ yrs
90
% that use Social Media
US
67.5
Scis
45
22.5
0
2005 2008 2009 2010

40. 18-29 yrs 30-49 yrs 50-64 yrs 65+ yrs
90
% that use Social Media
US
67.5
Scis
45
22.5
0
2005 2008 2009 2010

41. 18-29 yrs 30-49 yrs 50-64 yrs 65+ yrs
90
% that use Social Media
US
67.5
Scis
45
22.5
0
2005 2008 2009 2010

43. Don't think you need to
be on Facebook?

44. Don't think you need to
be on Facebook?
72%
of internet
users are.

45. Don't think you need to
be on Facebook?
72% 48%
use it as their
of internet
primary news
users are.
source

46. Don't think you need to
be on Facebook?
72% 48% 3
use it as their million links
of internet
primary news shared every
users are.
source hour

50. "The qualities that make
Twitter seem inane and half-
baked are what makes it so
powerful."
Jonathan Zittrain
Harvard University Law professor and Faculty Co-Director, Berkman
Center for Internet and Society

51. "The essentials of what
twitter does is an integral
part of the news system of
the future."
David Winer
Harvard University Research Fellow and former Wired Magazine Editor

52. Don't think you need
to be on Twitter?

53. Don't think you need
to be on Twitter?
1
billion new
tweets every
5 days

54. Don't think you need
to be on Twitter?
1 500
billion new
million users
tweets every
per day
5 days

55. Don't think you need
to be on Twitter?
1 500 5,530
billion new tweets per
million users second during
tweets every
per day the Japanese
5 days
earthquake &
tsunami

58. Don't think you need
to be on Google+?

59. Don't think you need
to be on Google+?

67. "... blog or be blogged."
- Paul Knoepfler, UC Davis, in a comment in NatureNews

69. You want broader
impacts?

70. You want broader
impacts?
I got yer broader
impacts right here.

74. 5,106 Tweets Per Second

76. >80,000
pageviews...
in 48 hours.

81. >12,000 pageviews... in a week.

85. Highly Cited
Low/No Tweets Highly Tweeted

86. Low/No Tweets Highly Tweeted

87. Highly Cited
Low/No Tweets Highly Tweeted

89. Reach New Audiences
Globally...
...and locally

90. (you should practice your mad skillz, too)

92. Two words:
Personal Branding.

93. “One of the things I hear most frequently
about a new hire is how disturbing it is
that he doesn’t have a web presence.
Something must be wrong, right?”
- Danah Boyd
Assistant Professor, NYU; Visiting Researcher, Harvard Law

97. Graduate Students

98. Why am I talking to
you?

99. Why am I talking to
you?
You're the best
choice for the job

100. "The in depth knowledge of their system and
details of field observations, experiments,
conversations with colleagues and an
extraordinary breadth of literature gives the
scientist a pool of knowledge to draw from that
often is unmatched by most science
communicators."
- Kevin Zelnio, blogger for Scientific American

101. Don't take my word for it...
In 2007...
• 50% of life scientists saw blogs, discussion groups, online communities,
and social networking as beneficial to sharing ideas with colleagues
• 85% thought social media affected their decision-making
Within 5 Years...
• > 50% “play a key role in shaping nearly all aspects of research workflow”
• < 25% “have a major influence on grant application and funding”
• > 25% “have a major influence on finding jobs”

104. Find Me Online!
Twitter: @NerdyChristie
Website: http://christiewilcox.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/christie.l.wilcox
Blog: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi