Using social media to develop your scientific career

Daniel S. Quintana - @dsquintanaNORMENT, KG Jebsen centre for psychosis research, University of Oslo

There are two approaches for the scientist on social media

‣ Talking to other scientists"‣ Engaging the public"

As scientists, we’re losing the public relations battle.

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”

- Wayne Gretzky (via his Dad)

While science outreach is crucial, here we’re going to focus on communication with other scientists & interested stakeholders.

I’m not pretending to be a expert here, this is about my personal experience - with some data thrown in

“We don’t have a choice on social media. The choice is how well we do it.”

Erik Qualman, author of ‘Socialnomics’"

People are already talking about your research online, don’t miss the chance to be a part of that conversation.

People will google your name, what will they find?

35% of academics don’t exist online.

Bastow et al., (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences

Can people easily find your publications? Your CV? Your area of expertise?

Research will always need to be disseminated, social media is a just new a means of distributing your ideas.

Darwin’s voyage, if he had a smartphone

In an another lab, almost 10,000 people ‘liked’ a news story about their research that a local TV station posted on their Facebook page. They only realised this sometime later, when it was too late - stories have a VERY short half-life online.

Five reasons why social media is worth your time

1. Exposure"2. Collaboration"3. Source of information"4. Shift from impact factors to social media metrics"5. Peer support

1. Social media boosts your exposure

‣ Traditionally, you had to rely on journal publications (slow) or conferences (infrequent/expensive)"

‣ Social media helps level the playing field "‣ Good ideas are spread, exponentially "‣ Less time between ‘publications’, you can

continually add to the conversation"

Twitter mentions boost PDF downloads & citations

Shuai et al., (2012) PloS One 7(11)"

2. Social media can facilitate collaboration

‣ Someone out there is in need of your expertise, now they can find you"

‣ The distance between disciplines become much smaller"

‣ Pre-conference ice breaker"‣ Twitter collaborations are now becoming

more commonplace"

Let’s say as a psychophysiologist, I’m interested in exercise physiology…

HRV 3.0.

Social mediapsycho-physiology

exercise physiology

Physical activity in

psychiatric disorders

Social media cuts out the middleman between research areas

3. Social media provides a great source of information‣ Can’t access a paywalled article? No

problems with #ICanHazPdf"‣ You can eavesdrop on thousands of ‘water

cooler’ conversations"‣ Unsure about some code? Just tweet the

developer!"‣ Want to get better at writing? Lots of great

blogs on becoming a better writer

#iCanHazPDF?"!

Ask and you shall receive (most of the time).

Bayesian statistics or frequentist statistics? Let’s listen in…"!

A twitter conversion with the developer of an R package"!

4. The shift from impact factors to altmetrics

‣ Altmetrics = alternative metrics"‣ More journals are emphasising altmetrics

(e.g., Frontiers, PLoS)"‣ Also a shift to post-publication review (e.g.,

Pubmed commons)"!

!

5. Social media provides peer support

‣ Communities have come together to form ad-hoc peer support"

‣ #PhDchat & #ECRchat"‣ #ShutUpAndWrite"‣ #Rstats"!

Common objections

I don’t have the time for that

I need to learn a new ‘language’

People in my field don’t use social media

I don’t have the time for that

I need to learn a new ‘language’

People in my field don’t use social media

You get what you put in

No ‘wrong’ way, be natural

Great opportunity for you

What are some social media platforms that can you use?‣ Twitter"‣ Blogging"‣ academia.edu/Researchgate.net"‣ Linkedin/Facebook"‣ Slideshare/Figshare

Twitter‣ No barrier for entry, just sign up at

twitter.com"‣ Huge community of researchers"‣ Unlike Facebook, majority of profiles

are public"‣ Easy to add links and images"!

Blogging‣ There are a number of blogging

platforms, you can get started in minutes"

‣ Roadtest your ideas - many posts have evolved into papers and books"

‣ No matter how niche, there’s an audience"

‣ Good writing practice"!

Facebook!

‣ Best suited for scientific outreach and groups"

‣ Some scientists use this as a communication tool with others but many keep Facebook for family/friends "

‣ Less ‘open’ than twitter"‣ Facebook chooses what your

followers see (twitter doesn’t)"!

Do you want to keep your private life and work life separate?

Facebook for outreach

!

‣ Groups can have a number of administrators that can share the load "

‣ You can set up notifications so you don’t miss posts"

‣ Always interesting content to share"!

Linkedin

‣ Linkedin profiles rank high when your name is googled"

‣ Engage with industry"‣ List your publications "‣ Universities and industry post jobs

here"!

!

academia.edu/researchgate

‣ Both perform similar functions, good means of highlighting your research"

‣ “Facebook” for academia"‣ Can add your CV and publications"!

HRV 3.0.

How can this knowledge

inform prevention & treatment?

Flex

ibili

ty

Ease

of u

se

Personal website

Wordpress/Tumblr/Blogger

Uni webpage profile

Getting your own online webpage

Some twitter tips‣ Change the default profile picture (doesn’t

have to be a profile shot but could help for conferences etc…)"

‣ Write an informative bio"‣ In bio, link to website "‣ Make ‘lists’ to turn down the noise"‣ Search and save #hashtags (great for

conferences)

Some twitter tips

It’s not a just oneway conversation…

Engage with others!

How to get started on twitter

‣ Have a look at who other people are following"

‣ Share some links, if you’ve come across an interesting paper your followers would find that interesting too"

‣ Have fun! Doesn’t have to all be about work"!

How to keep an eye on trends

‣ Set up article, author and keyword alerts on Google Scholar"

‣ Google news alerts with names or keywords"

!

!

With social media, you can access data on how you’re doing

Information provided by twitter analytics‣ How many people see your posts?"‣ Are people actually engaging with these

posts?"‣ Where do my followers live (i.e., when

will they be most active on twitter?)"‣ Easy to set up at analytics.twitter.com"

People that have seen the tweet Number of ‘engagements’

“This link is interesting”

“I’m going to read this later”

“Others may find this interesting”

“Who is this person?”

Information provided by google analytics

‣ How do people reach your website?"‣ Where are they from?"‣ What percentage are using smartphones?"‣ Not as straightforward to set up but there are

plenty of guides online"

Case study:"!

How I discovered people from a separate field are interested in my research.

HRV 3.0.

How can this knowledge

inform prevention & treatment?

What’s the source?

Spike in traffic to one post

Analytics = data

New audience for research

HRV 3.0.

Social mediapsycho-physiology

exercise physiology

Physical activity in

psychiatric disorders

Social media cuts out the middleman between research areas

HRV 3.0.

Social mediapsycho-physiology

exercise physiology

Physical activity in

psychiatric disorders

Social media cuts out the middleman between research areas

Ok, I’m not quite ready to dive into social media now but what should I do at the minimum?

Bare minimum for the scientist on social media

‣ Set up a twitter account"‣ Complete your Google Scholar, Linkedin

and Researchgate profiles"‣ Purchase your domain name (no need to

set up a webpage, yet)"

Any questions?Just ask (or tweet @dsquintana)