Science and social mediaA brave new world…

What is social media?

“…a mechanism for the audience to connect, communicate, and interact with each other

and their mutual friends through instant messaging or social networking sites.”

“In our view–and as used herein–Social Media isa group of Internet-based applications that build onthe ideological and technological foundations ofWeb 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchangeof User Generated Content.”

Benefits of social media – as consumer

• Interact with your peers globally– Crowd source problems

• Keep up with current literature and opinions on it…– And other neat science stuff

• Debate new ideas before they ever make it into the literature

Interact with your peers

Crowdsource your problemsIt’s 2011, this is how science is being done!

Crowdsource your problems

Keep up on current literature

Keep up on current literature…and other cool science stuff

Keep up on current literature…and other cool science stuff

Debate ideas before they’re published

Benefits of social media – as producer

• Communicate directly with non-scientists

• Hone your writing skills

• Networking x1000– Crowd funding

• Personal branding– Jobs!

Communicate with the public

Become a better writerHe went on to hammer home how important writing is for scientists:Writing is a skill, but it’s also a craft. It’s like programming. It’s this essential thing that you have to learn in your sciences. I’ve seen many examples of scientists who are incredible modelers, incredible programmers, incredible experimentalists, but they’re often not successful in the field because they’ve not learned how to write or they’ve not been willing to put the time and energy into their writing that they’ve put into the other parts of their science.

And so the writing is a huge part of it and you need to expect to devote hours and hours and multiple drafts, multiple rewrites, intensive work with your collaborators to really get those manuscripts in a perfect way. I mean, some of our papers, you know, the email exchanges will go back and forth over a single paragraph or a single sentence. It’s got to be that good to really get your message out.

Networking x1000

Crowd funding

Crowd funding

Crowd funding

Personal branding

Personal branding

"My department" -- the biochemistry department at the University of Toronto in Canada -- "told me part of the reason they hired me was because of stuff I'd written on my blog," he says. "It wasn't the main reason they hired me, but it helped.“ – Alex Palazzo

“Your tenure package is a four-course meal and blogging is the dessert." - Greg Gbur

“There is no doubt that all faculty searches include a Google search. Hell, I searched all applicants during mine, not just the narrowed candidates. One of the things i hear most frequently about our new hire is how disturbing it is that he doesn’t have a web presence. Something must be wrong, right? Everything that we could find about him online was accidental, not controlled. Abstracts from conferences, posts to academic Yahoo Groups, etc. You worry about people like this, particularly in the more technical realms.” – Danah Boyd

But beware the internet’s wrath

But beware the internet’s wrath

So what’s useful for science?Active Passive