20 Top Twitter (and social media) Tips

These pointers come from Twitter science social media stars ‪@AstroKatie, ‪@EuanRitchie1 and ‪@astroduff who were panellists during an Innovation week event hosted by @miss_toni on 11 November 2016, at the Royal Society in Melbourne.

Hash tags: #SciSocialites ‪#innovationwk

1. The advantage of Twitter is that you can engage with people who would otherwise never engage with you. You can have ‘conversations’, for example with scientists and actors such as Brian Schmidt, Stephen Fry, or Will Anderson.
2. Twitter is very inclusive. If you are a scientist wanting to ensure your research has impact, you can reach people with particular interests, such as farmers. ‘Making my science matter’ is the motivation. You can also reach journalists and other influencers.
3. You can use Twitter for communication; advocacy; and highlighting your work, yourself, your field, and your agency.
4. It’s most important to choose the right hashtags to maximise exposure and impact.
5. Social media allows researchers to bring science to the public, bypassing pay-walled journals
6. Warning: Current and prospective employers will check out your social media!
7. Dealing with trolls – just block them and don’t engage beyond a succinct polite message.
8. Consider muting people rather than blocking.
9. Sharing your own perspective can be more effective that trying to change someone’s views directly. Try to remain calm and supply accurate information. People might not agree, but there are lots of examples of people listening and acknowledging the response of others.
10. Interacting and being multi-dimensional, and responding to people will encourage people to engage with you.
11. There is software that will send your material out to different social media platforms in one go, such as Buffer (buffer.com).
12. You never know what a tweet can lead to. A researcher spoke of being concerned about a mooted change to environmental legislation. He tweeted some key researchers, urging action. This was a public discussion and it resulted in a significant research paper.
13. Commit time to tweet. One panellists said he spent at least 30 minutes each day tweeting.
14. Social media represents a great opportunity for organisations to engage very swiftly and to respond to issues.
15. Be aware that social media can be an ‘echo chamber’ where lots of people just self-select those with identical views.
16. Twitter is probably in decline. Instagram may be rising.
17. Facebook is more closed than Twitter. It is a good medium for a distinctive community, where you can keep material for perpetuity.
18. Snapchat is popular especially among younger people; Tumblr is popular among uni students.
19. Your social media choice will be dictated by you knowing your audience and your communication objectives.
20. To build your Twitter profile: Follow thought leaders and influencers; always include your twitter handle in presentations; be personal, have a ‘voice’; build trust; tailor your message to the audience.