Sunday, May 24, 2015

Five Reasons Why Scientists and Non-Scientists Should be on Twitter

Twitter has certainly remained one of the social media giants, along with Facebook, Instagram, etc. But unlike Facebook and the other social media sites, I have found Twitter to be a great place to improve my science. I know, I know, I'm that guy now who thinks Twitter is just sooOOoo cool. But there is actually a lot of good that comes out of this website, and I want to dedicate this post to discussing why I think you should be on Twitter, especially if you are a scientist.


1. Keep Up With The Current Literature

Others and myself have found Twitter to be a great way to keep on top of the current scientific literature. Of course you want to have you PubCrawler keeping you updated, and it doesn't hurt to browse journals' tables of contents in your inbox, but Twitter offers a unique venue for paper discovery. Once you start following a lot of your fellow researchers, you will start to realize that they find (and post) a lot of cool papers that you would have never come across. Some of the most interesting papers I have ever read, and some that I write about in this blog, were first seen posted by a friend on Twitter.

2. Keep Your Finger on the Pulse of the Scientific Community

It is great to keep up with the current literature, but it is equally important to keep in touch with the general interest of the scientific community. What are people talking about? What do people think is going to be the next big thing? Twitter allows you to start answering these questions both through the scientific news of the day, as well as an up-to-date summary of what people are thinking about the news. Keeping up with the real scientific commentary is great for focusing your news consumption on the topics that are most relevant to the general public and scientific communities. Additionally, getting news from fellow researchers is a great way to stay on the cutting edge of research, because other venues can be significantly slower.

3. Get the Most Out of Scientific Conferences

Twitter is simply great for conferences. One of the most notable ways Twitter affects conferences is through live Tweeting talks. Live tweeting at a conference means tweeting notes about the talk you are attending, as it happens. I think this is great because I am usually taking notes anyways, and this way people who cannot attend the conference can still get an idea of what is going on. Additionally, I love to look at other tweets during talks because it offers immediate different perspectives that can let me think about the research in different ways.

There are definitely weird symbols associated with social
media, including Twitter. <SOURCE>

4. Be A Member of the Scientific Community

Twitter is still social media, so it offers opportunities for social connections. It is a great venue for connecting with other professional and non-professional scientists. I also think it is a great place for the general public to connect with scientists, ask questions, and see the things we think about. It is definitely a great place both for scientific communication and public outreach.

5. Learn to be Concise!

This is probably one of the biggest benefits to being on Twitter. Every tweet can only be 140 characters long, which means you have to learn to say what you want in as few characters as possible. As scientists, we strive to be clear and concise, but often fall short. Twitter offers a great tool to help hone those skills and help you be a more concise and clear scientist.

Concluding Remarks

So if it was not clear yet, I think Twitter is a great place both for those who want to learn about science and for scientists. If you would like to take advantage of these benefits of Twitter, as well as the many benefits I did not mention, head over to the website and create an account. It's easy to get started, and if you need somebody to contact first, look me up @iprophage.



* Twitter image source.


2 comments:

  1. I'm here to testify about what DR. OYAGU did for me. I have been suffering from (GENITAL HERPES VIRUS) disease for the past 2 years and had constant pain and inching, especially in my private part. During the first year, I had faith in God that i would be cured someday.This disease started circulating all over my body and I have been taking treatment from my doctor, few weeks ago I came across a testimony of Shayla Bosschart on the internet testifying about a Man called DR. OYAGU on how he cured her from 7 years HSV 2. And she also gave the email address of this man, advise anybody to contact him for help on any kind of diseases that he would be of help, so I emailed him telling him about my (HSV 2) he told me not to worry that I was going to be cured!! Well, I never doubted him I have faith he can cure me too,, DR. OYAGU prepared and sent me Healing Soap, roots and herbs which I took. In the first one week, I started experiencing changes all over me, after two weeks of using his Roots/ Herbs, Oil and Soap, I was totally cured. no more inching , pain on me anymore as DR. OYAGU assured me. After some time I went to my doctor to do another test behold the result came out negative. So friends my advise is if you have such disease or know anyone who suffers from it or any other disease like HPV, HBV, HIV, ALS, HBP, CANCER etc. you can contact DR. OYAGU for help via email} oyaguherbalhome@gmail.com whatsaap him through his mobile} +2348101755322. , Thanks once again DR. OYAGU for making me a happy woman again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is another testimony on how Chief Dr Lucky cured My HIV Disease. Do you need a cure for your HIV disease? Do you want to be cured from your cancer disease? Or you want to be free from any type of disease. Kindly visit his website https://chiefdrluckyherbaltherapy.wordpress.com/ , he just cured my HIV disease and I’m very grateful to him, he is the only herbalist that can cure you.  
    WhatsApp number : +2348132777335 
    Via Email : chiefdrlucky@gmail.com
    Thank you all for reading,
    God bless"

    ReplyDelete