1. The Benefits
and
Barriers of
Social Media
for
Scientists
Craig R. McClain @DrCraigMc

2. Deep Sea News
D
Deep Sea
News
SN
deepseanews.com
@deepseanews
#deepsn

3. Why Should
I Even Give
A Flying Flip?

4. If I Google You
If IWhat Would I Find?
Google You, What
Would I Find?
t to be or not. .
n
ether you wa
one else is
online wh
1.You’re on
identity some
curating your
t
t.
2.If you’re no
your conten
re you create
3.Make su

6. er the age of 30,
human race is und
re than half of the
Mo
t the internet.
known life withou
they've never
Guess how they fee
l about social media
?

7. 3 out of 4 Americans use social technology
-Forrester, The Growth of Social Technology Adoption, 2008

8. All media is now
social media
om
wer away fr
e po
he
s shifting th
blishment, t
nology i
esta
Tech
lishers, the
pub
editors, the
l.
media elite.
re in contro
ho a
he people w
Now it's t
ert Murdoch
-Rup

9. If Facebook were a country it would be the third most
populated in the world ahead of the United States
In Billions
!
China
1.35
India
1.21
Facebook 1.06
U.S.
0.31
!
http://news.yahoo.com/number-active-users-facebookover-230449748.html

10. 5 billion pieces* of content a week on Facebook in 2010
* web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/02/15/new-facebook-statistics-show-big-increase-in-content-sharing-local-business-pages/

11. 1/3 of women aged 18-34 check
Facebook when they first wake up
!
...even before going to the bathroom
http://www.dailyillini.com/features/health_and_living/article_323b7fd8-966a-11e2-b435-001a4bcf6878.html

12. As of April, 500 million total users and more than 200
million active users on Twitter
http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/

14. So What
Do I Do
Online?

15. Social media is a tool like a microscope.
It can be used well and badly.
It can be used to do a lot of different
things.
!
-Jon Eisen

16. social media is like water.
on its own, water does some
cool things, but when
combined with other
compounds it enabled the
evolution of all forms of life.
!
social media on its own is nice,
but when combined with other
tools, it is enabling everything
to evolve, from
communications to business to
politics to marketing
!
Mike Volpe VP Marketing
HubSpot

17. What is your online mission?
Personal? Outreach? Science?
Consume, Share, Filter, Generate?

18. * Inreach
versus
Outreach
*James Brown has nothing to do with this. I simply have always wanted to put a photo of James Brown dancing
in a presentation. I also want to make sure you are still awake.

19. Social Media
for
Scientific
Benefit

20. In terms of inreach, social media has become an important tool in
quickly connecting with other researchers (Priem and Costello 2010).
!
“This is the dilemma faced by researchers in the electronic age. How
can we be expected to produce both quality and quantity and to yield
influential research? We simply cannot—at least not on our own.
Instead, we must rely on networking and collaborations to build our
research programs and to remain influential in our fields in order to
advance scientific knowledge. With this collaborative view in mind,
scientific influence involves the body of work of both individual
researchers and of research groups as a whole.”

25. Crowd Sourcing Science

26. Conferences

27. Blogs written by scientists for scientists are becoming
common and important places for the exchange of ideas

28. One way that the social media appears does not to impact a scientific career is a direct link of
social media mentions and citations on a scientific article.
!
In an analysis of 1.4 million documents in PubMed and Web of Science published from 2010 to
2012, Haustein et al. (2013) found no correlation between a paper or a journals citation count and
Twitter mentions.

29. As argued by the authors of the study (Haustein et al. 2013), this suggests that Twitter mentions do not
reflect traditional research impact. Indeed, social media mentions may capture a previously unquantified
impact of a scientist’s career (Priem et al. 2012).
crea
ill In
dia W
l Me
ocia
S
sure
xpo
se E

32. Social Media
for
Public
Outrech

33. Most of Social Media Outreach is a Mystery
!
We often don’t know the goal or the path.

34. Science: A Public Relations Nightmare?
this
public
rela.ons
nightmare”
is
been
the
pla4orm
in
which
scien.sts
have
been
encourage
to
“take
responsibility
for
science
communica.on
in
a
digital
age”
(Wilcox
2012).
may
not
simply
be
an
issue
of
the
public
percep.on
on
the
credibility
or
worth
of
scien.sts
but
rather
the
strategies
we
use
to
communicate
the
public.

35. Are Scientists Poor Communicators?
Nearly
30%
of
scien.sts
in
one
study
stated
that
“scien.sts
are
poor
interpersonal
communicators
or
that
nonscien.sts
perceive
them
to
be
uniformly
inept
at
communica.on,
regardless
of
their
actual
abili.es”
(Ecklund
and
Lincoln,
2012).
!
In
the
same
study
37%
of
scien.sts
placed
the
blame
poor
outreach
efforts
on
scien.sts
themselves
(Ecklund
and
Lincoln,
2012).
writer/journalist25%-
Open Lab 2013
anthology of the best
science writing online
graduate/medical-student17%-
teacher3%scienceprofessional8%-
research-scien6st45%-
medical-doctor2%-

36. Are Scientists Not Engaging the Public?
• Scien.sts
do
not
believe
that
their
colleagues
actually
engage
in
outreach
(Ecklund
and
Lincoln,
2012)
!
• Nearly
half
of
all
academic
scien.sts
ere
engaged
in
some
type
of
outreach
(Ecklund
and
Lincoln,
2012)
• Scien.sts
have
a
posi.ve
aOtude
toward
par.cipa.ng
in
public
engagement
(Ecklund
and
Lincoln,
2012).
!
• 20%
of
respondents
engaged
online
personally
(Allgaier
et
al.
2013)
• 44%
of
German
and
65%
of
United
States
scien.sts
thought
that
these
channels
“can
strongly
influence
how
the
public
thinks
about
science”
(Allgaier
et
al.
2013)

37. Are Scientists Not Engaging the Public?
• Over
62%
of
respondents
give
media
interviews
• 59%
provide
assistance
to
government
agencies
• 59%
give
talks
or
presenta.ons
to
the
general
public.
!
• 39%
do
not,
and
never
will,
use
TwiZer
for
academic/professional
work;
• 35%
say
the
same
for
Facebook
(though
58%
use
TwiZer
and
Facebook
for
personal
use).

38. Are Scientists Not Engaging the Public?
• Wilkinson
and
Weitkamp
(2013)
survey
of
researchers
whose
work
had
been
highlighted
in
policy-­‐relevant
newsleZers
!
!
• “For
the
majority
of
researchers,
there
has
been
liZle
change
in
the
use
of
media
to
communicate
with
non-­‐academic
audiences
over
the
past
five
years.
!
• As
Table
3
indicates
social
media
are
rarely
used
as
a
means
for
communica.ng
with
non-­‐
academics,
• 73%
(n=97)
never
used
TwiZer,
• 64%
(n=84)
never
used
blogs
and
• 51%
(n=67)
never
use
online
news
forums.

39. Are Scientists Not Engaging the Public?

40. Is the Deficit Model Effective?
• 70%
of
scien.sts
express
a
percep.on
of
public
ignorance
• 30%
blame
a
disinterest
in
science
• “widespread
lack
of
scien.fic
knowledge
among
the
general
public
is
a
difficulty
in
communica.ng
advanced
scien.fic
discoveries
beyond
the
borders
of
the
academic
science
community”.
• “Scien.sts
view
their
role
in
outreach
as
mainly
to
fill
a
void
• in
knowledge
among
members
of
the
general
public“
!
Scholars
have
examined
dynamics
such
as
!
• how
real-­‐world
exposure
to
science
stories
•
•
influences
science
beliefs
(Hwang
&
Southwell,
2009),
how
narra.ve
structure
may
affect
interpreta.on
(Dahlstrom,
2010;
Yaros,
2006),
and
how
various
mediums
may
differen.ally
affect
public
percep.ons
(Nisbet
et
al.,
2002)

41. Is the Deficit Model Effective?
Vaccine
Risk
Percep.ons
and
Ad
Hoc
Risk
Communica.on:
An
Empirical
Assessment-­‐Dan
M.
Kahan
!
!
• Based
on
survey
and
experimental
methods
(N
=
2,316),
the
Report
presents
two
principal
findings:
1. that
vaccine
risks
are
neither
a
maZer
of
concern
for
the
vast
majority
of
the
public
nor
an
issue
of
conten.on
among
recognizable
demographic,
poli.cal,
or
cultural
subgroups;
2. that
ad
hoc
forms
of
risk
communica.on
that
assert
there
is
moun.ng
resistance
to
childhood
immuniza.ons
themselves
pose
a
risk
of
crea.ng
misimpressions
and
arousing
sensibili.es
that
could
culturally
polarize
the
public
and
diminish
mo.va.on
to
cooperate
with
universal
vaccina.on
programs.

42. Is Social Media Engaging the Public?
• Most
will
not
have
direct
contact
with
most
of
the
public
via
social
media
• Tradi.onal
media
is
s.ll
the
gateway
for
informa.on
(SuZon
et
al.)
• “The
majority
of
our
ques.onnaire
respondents
indicated
that
they
sought
informa.on
using
• mobile
phones
to
contact
friends
or
family
(54%);
• through
informa.on
portals
and
websites
adver.sed
in
tradi.onal
media
(76%);
• by
accessing
alterna.ve
news
sources
and
individual
blogs
(38%);
• through
discussions
on
various
web
forums
(15%);
• from
photo-­‐
sharing
sites
such
as
Flickr
or
Picasa
(10%).
• Just
less
than
10%
of
our
respondents
used
TwiZer,
in
spite
of
the
ac.ve
media
coverage
on
the
topic.
“

43. Is Social Media Engaging the Public?
Deep Sea News
!
D
SN
•At
www.deepseanews.com
the
average
length
spent
on
the
website
in
2013
was
54
seconds
•87.8%
of
visitors
only
read
a
single
post.
•Only
12%
of
page
views
were
by
returning
visitors.
•More
than
50%
of
readers
never
commented
and
near
25%
only
commented
one
or
twice
Deep Sea
•When
surveyed
readers
were
asked
why
they
did
not
comment,
“the
reader
did
not
feel
qualified
News
(28.6%),
the
reader
had
nothing
to
add
(25.7%),
or
the
reader
did
not
generally
comment
on
blogs
(17.1%).”
•This
suggests
that
social
media
engagement
through
blogs
may
be
short,
superficial,
and
single
serving.

44. rd
Ne
st
ru
fT
o

47. Is All Information Being Consumed?
• One
assump.on
is
that
if
you
broadcast
any
informa.on
via
social
media
it
will
be
consumed
by
the
public.
• This
is
based
on
the
idea
that
all
social
media
pla4orms
have
massive
usage.
• In
a
given
month,
one
billion
people
visit
YouTube
to
watch
6
billion
of
hours
of
video.
Yet,
many
videos
receive
few
views
and
less
than
10%
account
for
the
majority
of
views
(Cheng
et
al.
2008).
•
• Posts
published
at
Deep-­‐Sea
News
Deep Sea News
for
2013
(N=299),
garnered
1,666,119
page
views.
Of
these
views,
82.6%
were
received
on
the
top
20
posts.
The
lowest
ranking
200
posts
accounted
for
just
5%
of
total
2013
views.
•
•

48. Is Social Media Capital Offline Capital?
• In
a
study
with
49
par.cipants,
588
requests
to
help
with
a
class
project
of
labeling
photos
online
nearly
80%
of
the
requests
were
unanswered
(Stefanone
et
al.
2012).
• Ten
par.cipants
received
no
response
and
nine
only
one
response.
Stefanonone
et
al.
(2012)
• Another
study
on
2,000
Norwegian
revealed
that
those
who
engaged
in
social
media
had
significantly
higher
face-­‐to-­‐face
interac.ons,
number
of
acquaintances,
and
friends
with
differing
views
than
themselves
(Brandtzaeg
2012)
• Thaler
et
al
(2012)
suggest
that
social
media
may
be
crea.ng
a
public
only
superficially
involved
with
the
environmental
movement,
i.e.
slack.vism
• “Facebook
allow
people
to
“like”
a
topic
without
requiring
any
addi.onal
commitment.
While
that
person
may
feel
they
are
lending
support
to
the
topic,
this
can
ar.ficially
increase
the
number
of
people
who
appear
to
be
involved
in
an
issue
(Golden
1998;
Furlong
2004).”

49. Will Social Media Outreach Benefit A Scientist’s Career?
?

50. How and when do things go viral?
Berger and Milkman (2012)
• The
results
indicate
that
posi.ve
content
is
more
viral
than
nega.ve
content
• Virality
is
par.ally
driven
by
physiological
arousal.
• Content
that
evokes
high-­‐arousal
posi.ve
•
Debunking
(awe)
or
nega.ve
(anger
or
anxiety)
emo.ons
is
more
viral.
Content
that
evokes
low-­‐arousal,
or
deac.va.ng,
emo.ons
(e.g.,
sadness)
is
less
viral.

51. How and when do things go viral?

52. D
Deep Sea
News
SN
Deep Sea News

53. Is Engagement Always Positive?
"Your article are such crap and very unscientific. The 3
explanations in your blog, on echinoderms wasting away
had no real basis. The claim the because it happened on
the East Coast, also happening a decade ago, but you left
out that there are plenty of leaks on the East too (Love
Canal). Then to make a claim that no other life in the
pacific has been showing odd symptoms is an opinion,
please be more clear in your work, all you are doing is
feeding into misinfo and likely are involved with Koch or
some other pro industry. Like reading all the Forbes, op
eds. Next you will be citing them about how radiation is
just like a banana."
"I've been seeing your LYING disinformation news
on Fukushima on MY Facebook page. My writers
and I tell the truth about Fukushima radiation and
we will not allow you to lie and therefore be guilty
of crimes against humanity. You'll be exposed on my
website as I'll have one of my writers investigate this
disinfo source and then do a write up. My website
gets over a million views/month and FB
pagecurrently hosts over 231,000 subscribers. You
can either tell the truth, and we won't tell the truth
about your lies, or continue lying and read what I
said would be done above."
"The JEWS did Fukushima Sabotage and False Flag with
HAARP. The JEWS did 9-11 Sabotage and False Flag with
HAARP. JAPAN TSUNAMI QUAKE C AUSED
PURPOSELY WITH HAARP. Fukushima Sabotage was
done with HAARP. The Stuxnet Computer Virus was
made in Dimona Israel. HAARP, Fukushima, Sabotage,
Benjamin Fulford, Stuxnet Computer Virus, Dimona
Israel, Siemens Computers, False Flag,” The Stuxnet
computer worm is perhaps the most complicated piece
of malicious software ever built; DESIGNED BY JEWS
TO SABOTAGE NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS. When
are they going to PROSECUTE the JEW OWNERS of
HAARP?"
"This article is ridiculous.You are no better than all the
fear mongers out there, only instead of actually being
concerned about this environmental crisis, you're
completely trying to deter everyone from the reality
that fukushima is serious and something that needs to
be watched closely, as it WILL have dire effects on the
entire planet. If you honestly think that fukushima is
nothing to be concerned about, you should just kill
yourself, you're doing this world absolutely no good."

54. The anonymity of the internet makes bullies.
How do we deal with them?

55. Now Go Out
There And
Get Social!

56. social media is like water.
on its own, water does
some cool things, but when
combined with other
compounds it enabled the
evolution of all forms of life.
!
social media on its own is
nice, but when combined
with other tools, it is
enabling everything to
evolve, from
communications to
business to politics to
marketing
!
Mike Volpe VP Marketing
HubSpot

57. Recognize Social Media Outreach is still an experiment. One that
you can shape and take part in. That’s exciting

58. Deep Sea News
http://deepseanews.com
Deep Sea
News
D
SN
@DrCraigMc
http://craigmcclain.com
most images courtesy of ShutterStock