Adventures in Twitter: Growing an Audience, Going Viral, Building Collaboration and Discussing Critical Issues in Geoscience
Abstract
Geoscientists gain unique experiences through their work, ranging from visually-compelling labwork to international travel and fieldwork. Visual and written stories of these experiences, shared through social media and other platforms, provide valuable ways to engage the public, students, and academic peers in the endeavor of undertaking scientific research, conducting experiments, and also highlight specific and timely facts about your research subject(s). Sharing up-to-date work can also lead to unexpected collaboration and problem-solving. From the perspective of one geoscientist, four kinds of Twitter use frame its utility: 1) growing and understanding an audience through experimentation, 2) the rare "viral" event, 3) growing your network and gaining interaction with journalists, artists, and peers; and 4) discussing critical issues in geoscience and hearing, promoting, and supporting individuals at early and vulnerable stages in academia. Though it has many pitfalls, Twitter can be an excellent platform to grow the visibility and impact of your work—reaching both inwards and out of academia—while also increasing awareness of ongoing challenges in our community that are not openly discussed in the workplace or other public forums.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMED12B..05N
- Keywords:
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- 0799 General or miscellaneous;
- CRYOSPHERE;
- 0815 Informal education;
- EDUCATION;
- 0845 Instructional tools;
- EDUCATION;
- 0850 Geoscience education research;
- EDUCATION