An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists

Abstract

Online social media tools can be some of the most rewarding and informative resources for scientists—IF you know how to use them.

Social media in public health: is it used and is it useful?

“…Whether they are useful or not depends on how ''usefulness'' is defined and how it is measured: societal impact should be measured in addition to scholarly impact, as public health is a field that per definition should have social impact. As a lot of the evidence for the impact of SM is still anecdotal (Bik and Goldstein 2013), we echo Moorhead's suggestion (Moorhead et al 2013), namely that further research is needed with more robust methodologies and possibly RCTs to determine the role and effectiveness of SM for health care communication. We are excited about the results of such endeavours while at the same time we are trying to contribute to research ourselves (more on this soon).…”

Digital teaching tools and global learning communities

“…Scientists are generally considered slow adopters of social media, but there is growing awareness that these tools can be used in a professional context and support professional development ( Bik & Goldstein, 2013; Osterrieder, 2013). Since the earliest days of online education, educators have stressed the importance of building community and trust ( Brown, 2001; Rovai, 2002); trust is based on positive interactions, whether online or in person.…”

Expanding the Boundaries of Your Research Using Social Media: Stand-Up and Be Counted

“…You may get feedback, even ideas and new collaborators [3]. A usual tendency of scientists is of course to keep away from such social media because either they perceive it to be an unproductive activity or simply they are untrained to communicate with the non-scientific community.…”