Twitter and YouFrom Twit to Tweeter

An AGSO 15-minute Lecture by Meredith Rawls, @merrdiff

September 27, 2013

What is @twitter for?

• Breaking news

• Yelling at sports

• Cat pictures

• Whining about first world problems

• Spambots

• Funny inside jokes

• Wasting time

What is @twitter for?

• Asking & answering science Qs

• Honing communication skills

• Attending a conference

• Networking with fellow astronomers

• Conversing with people not in Las Cruces

• Publicizing your latest research

• Finding a job

Excuses…

• Twitter uses some t > 0 amount of time and I’m only allowed to do research, ever.

Excuses…

• Twitter uses some t > 0 amount of time and I’m only allowed to do research, ever.

• I already use facebook.

Excuses…

• Twitter uses some t > 0 amount of time and I’m only allowed to do research, ever.

• I already use facebook.

• I won’t have any followers.

Excuses…

• Twitter uses some t > 0 amount of time and I’m only allowed to do research, ever.

• I already use facebook.

• I won’t have any followers.

• I don’t want to learn a new thing.

Excuses…

• Twitter uses some t > 0 amount of time and I’m only allowed to do research, ever.

• I already use facebook.

• I won’t have any followers.

• I don’t want to learn a new thing.

• I hate outreach and only do it for GSC money.

Excuses…

• Twitter uses some t > 0 amount of time and I’m only allowed to do research, ever.

• I already use facebook.

• I won’t have any followers.

• I don’t want to learn a new thing.

• I hate outreach and only do it for GSC money.

• I don’t believe in talking to people.

Finding the signal in the noise

• Being a “fly on the wall” is OK

• Ask an astronomy question, get an answer

– How do I do this one thing in python / LaTeX?

– Could you see a meteor shower on Titan?

• Links! Tweets are short, but info is dense

• Receive news tailored exactly to your interests

– E.G., chicken, donuts, football, dogs, Seattle, SDSS

Going to a #conference? (1/2)

• “Attend” two sessions at once

• Take notes for yourself and others

• Be first to know about free food & drinks

Going to a #conference? (2/2)

• Advice from @drphilmarshall

DPS, Oct 2013 #dps13

AAS, Jan 2014 #aas223

COMMUNICATIZE BETTERER

• Forces you to be succinct; compelling yet brief

• People love astronomy… do easy outreach

Publicize your work / Find papers

• Write a paper? Tweet a link!

• Follow @Awesome_Ph and similar

• Like dark matter? Follow @DMHunters

• #icanhazpdf

Unlike you, twitter isn’t stuck in bumf*ck nowhere Las Cruces

• Geography doesn’t matter

• Student / postdoc / professor doesn’t matter

Want a job? Twitter can help

• “All of the jobs I’ve had since finishing my PhD I’ve found through announcements on twitter.”

—Australian postdoc in planetary science

• Get invited to give a talk or write a blog post

• People know you when you have an online presence

OK! Sounds good! How to start?

• Pick a short username (I’m @merrdiff)

• Use your 140 characters wisely

• Replies (@ vs .@), mentions, retweets, oh my

• Care and use of #hashtags

Example: brevity

• Long email ( >> 140 chars):Hello Meredith,

I saw your latest paper on the arXiv. Very interesting! I was wondering why you preferentially chose to include orange widgets in your sample and didn’t have very many silver ones? The last time I looked into widgets, silver ones were generally accepted as more representative of the overall widget population. Here is a link to a paper I coauthored 10 years ago on the subject:

http://www.astronomy.myuniversity.edu/~bobisthebest/424242/httpd/html/holtz/APO/UseThisOne/papers/widgets/FrednBobPaper1.pdf

Cheers, Bob

• Long tweet ( = 140 chars):

@merrdiff Saw your paper, very interesting! Why’d you use mostly orange widgets, not silver? http://bit.ly/12345 suggests silver is best.

Example: research conversation

Twitter Summary

• Useful tool for research

• Connects you with other scientists

• Improves your communication skills

• Enhances conferences for everyone

• Might even help you find a job

Learn morehttp://goo.gl/7VtQJ