Presentation at the 2nd Conference on the Microbiology of the Built Environment (May 22-24, 2013)

1. Social Media for Researchers
#microBEnet
Holly Bik
Eisen Lab, UC Davis Genome Center
2nd Conference on the Microbiology of the Built Environment
May 22-24, 2013

2. “Social media refers to the means of
interactions among people in which they
create, share, and exchange information and
ideas in virtual communities and networks.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

3. Social Media tools & their uses
Short-form (more ephemeral, minimal time investment)
• Twitter – messages <140 characters, can post
thoughts, soundbytes, links, pictures, videos.
• Facebook – personal profiles (pictures, status updates,
etc.), groups and “pages”. But people can be wary
about privacy settings (not accepting friend requests
professional colleagues, or eschewing Facebook
altogether).
• Microblogging – Tumblr (photos, quotes), Pinterest
(visual ‘pinboard’ of images)

4. Social Media tools & their uses
Long-form (more longevity, but more time investment)
• Blogs – independent (e.g. a free Blogger/Wordpress
account) or linked to an established blog network
(Scientific American, Nature Network)
• Video content – Youtube. Catchy visuals can be more
effective than long written pieces. Difficult and time
consuming to achieve high production quality.
• Podcasting – iTunes. Another different media form.
Also can be just as time consuming to produce as
video content.

5. Social Media & the Built Environment
• http://microbe.net - portal website (blog,
simple guides, upcoming events)
• Twitter – conference tweeting, asking
questions, personalized news feed
– #microBEnet
• Google+ hangouts – free teleconference,
group discussions

6. http://www.microbe.net/

7. a Tweet, dissected
Twitter Handle
Hashtag
Share
Now
Save
Share
Later

8. Conference Tweeting
• Tweeting soundbytes from talks – taking
notes, disseminating conference content
• Discussing talks with other audience
members (and remote participants) during
conference sessions
• Networking - interactions on twitter can
introduce you to new people, and also serve
as icebreakers before you meet other
conference participants in real life

9. Storify
http://storify.com

10. Google+
Hangout

11. How do I start?
• Define your goals
– What do you want to achieve?
• Define your audience
– Who do you envision talking to? Other scientists
(inside/outside your discipline)? Journalists?
Educators? The general public?
• Choose specific platforms which help you achieve
your goals
– How much time do you want to invest?
– What medium is best for conferring your message?

12. Research
– Community building - Particularly relevant for niche
topics or interdisciplinary research
– Content curation – linking to and amalgamating
media sources, e.g. news articles, videos, Storifys
Outreach
– Increasing the visibility of scientists (and branding
them as ‘experts’)
– Cutting out the middleman - scientists can
communicate directly with interested members of the
public. Conversations are also archived for future
reference (dependent on platform)

13. Tips and Guidance
• Scientific benefits can result
– New collaborations, manuscripts, research
funding, interactions across the boundaries of
your discipline, increased efficiency (e.g.
obtaining PDFs, getting quick answers to
questions), obtaining samples or leveraging
others’ fieldwork
• Online interactions will broaden your real
networks

14. Tips and Guidance
• Social Media requires an initial time investment
– Setting up accounts, exploring features, connecting with others
– OK to initially observe and "lurk”
– Explore different tools and decide what works best. Consistent
use of fewer tools is better than spreading yourself too thin.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help
– There are many established and friendly communities online
where people are always willing to help
• Social Media will save you time in the long run
– Provides filters and customization for information
– Many existing tools for aggregation and cross-platform
synching

15. Perils – external perceptions
• Perception and reputation in research
– “When do you have time to do science?”
• Aimless interactions or misdirected goals
– Lots of information on the internet and it’s
easy to get overloaded with different tools
and lightspeed conversations
– Distraction potential – wasting time

16. The Importance of Metrics
• Online tools give us metrics to track the impact
and dissemination of online content
– Data is critical for quantifying impact and refining
the use of online tools for researchers
– Data will also be necessary for promoting
acceptance in academic circles; metrics dispel the
perception that online activities are a “waste of
time”, e.g. in job searches, tenure review, tracking
project outputs
– ImpactStory - http://impactstory.it
– Website statistics – StatCounter, Google Analytics

17. Bik HM, Goldstein MC (2013) An Introduction to Social Media for
Scientists. PLoS Biology, 11(4):e1001535.