FLICKR, ANDREAS ELDHWhich matter more, citations or retweets? To address this, genomicist Neil Hall from the University of Liverpool in the U.K. has proposed what he calls the Kardashian Index (K Index), a “measure of discrepancy between a scientist’s social media profile and publication record based on the direct comparison of numbers of citations and Twitter followers.” Hall described the so-called K Index in Genome Biology today (July 30).
“Consider Kim Kardashian,” Hall wrote in his paper; “she comes from a privileged background and, despite having not achieved anything consequential in science, politics or the arts . . . she is one of the most followed people on Twitter and among the most searched-for person on Google.”
(If at this point, dear reader, you are scratching your head wondering who Kardashian is, you’re not alone. She is a reality TV star with millions of fans and online followers. As Hall put it, “If Kim Kardashian commented on the value of the ENCODE project, her tweet would get more retweets and favorites than the rest of the scientific community combined.”)
To Hall’s mind, Kardashian is celebrated simply for being famous. And he suggested that the ...
