The value and use of social media as communication tool in the plant sciences

Plant Methods

Anne Osterrieder¹ 

[1] Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK

关键词: Science communication;    Blogging;    Hashtag;    Social networking;    Social media;   

Others  :  820333
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-4811-9-26

 received in 2013-06-11, accepted in 2013-07-09,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Social media now complements many parts of our lives. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many other social networking sites allow users to share and interact with online content and to connect with like-minded people. Its strengths – rapid dissemination and amplification of content and the ability to lead informal conversations – make it a powerful tool to use in a professional context. This commentary explains the overall concept of social media and offers suggestions on usage and possible types of scientific content. It advises researchers on the potential benefits and how to take a strategic approach towards building a social media presence. It also presents examples of effective social media use within the plant science community. Common reasons for scientists to not engage with social media include the fear of appearing unprofessional, posting something wrong or being misunderstood, or a lack of confidence in their computer skills. With the rapid changes in academic publishing, dissemination and science communication, as well as the rise of ‘altmetrics’ to track online engagement with scientific content, digital literacy will become an essential skill in a scientist’s tool kit.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Osterrieder; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Rowlands I, Nicholas D, Russell B, Canty N, Watkinson A: Social media use in the research workflow. Learned Publishing 2011, 24:183-195.
• [2]Kelly B: Using social media to enhance your research activities. London: Social media in social research 2013 conference; 2013.
• [3]Bik HM, Goldstein MC: An introduction to social media for scientists. PLoS Biol 2013, 11(4):e1001535.
• [4]Darling ES, Shiffman D, Côté MI, Drew JA: The role of Twitter in the life cycle of a scientific publication. PeerJ PrePrints 2013. 1:e16v1
• [5]Inside Higher Ed: Twitter Directory for Higher Education. http://www.insidehighered.com/twitter_directory webcite
• [6]Sense about Science, Plant Science Panel. http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/plant-science-expert-panel.html webcite
• [7]Heap T, Minocha S: An empirically grounded framework to guide blogging for digital scholarship. Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20(Supp):176-188.
• [8]Osterrieder A: Connect with plant scientists on social networking sites. http://www.plantcellbiology.com/2013/02/connect-with-plant-scientists-on-social-networking-sites/ webcite
• [9]Cain F: Super Science Circle. 2013. https://plus.google.com/+FraserCain/posts/1tcN2GkbvnY webcite
• [10]Priem J, Taraborelli D, Groth P, Neylon C: Altmetrics: A manifesto, (v.1.0). 2010. http://altmetrics.org/manifesto webcite
• [11]Altmetrics Collectios: PLOS Collections. 2012. http://www.ploscollections.org/altmetrics webcite
• [12]Altmetric Explorer. http://www.altmetric.com/aboutexplorer.php webcite
• [13]Impact Story. http://impactstory.org/ webcite
• [14]Altmetrics Tools. http://altmetrics.org/tools/ webcite
• [15]Topsy. http://topsy.com/ webcite