FLICKR, ANDREAS ELDHTwitter’s not just for the birds, argues a group of marine scientists in an Ideas in Ecology and Evolution report. The paper presents a case for more scientists to engage with one another and the public through social media like Twitter—a micro-blogging platform that allows users to send short messages and engage in two-way information flows—using examples drawn from the researchers’ own online networks.
“Many scientists may think they don't have time for Twitter,” lead author Emily Darling, a Smith Conservation Research Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told the University of Miami. “But a little effort can provide enormous value for communication and outreach. The solution is to just give it a try.”
The researchers highlighted Twitter’s ability to help scientists build scholarly connections, refine ideas through pre-review, and amplify discussions of science to a broad audience. Twitter, they pointed out, provides an informal and low-investment way to reach a large virtual following, which can increase exponentially through retweets. Scientists can benefit from using Twitter to share their work at various stages of completion with potential collaborators and students, government officials, science journalists, and ...
