Should a scientist be on social media? It might seem like an absurd question, but the answer is yes. Why would we need to promote our ideas and work if it’s already out there in the public domain for anyone to see? There are two reasons why scientists should use social media: (1) making their research accessible to those who can’t access journals; and (2) accelerating discovery through democratizing dissemination of knowledge.
The first reason is that some people don’t have access to journals or can only read a journal with difficulty. This could be due to economic reasons (e.g., in developing countries) or an impairment that makes reading difficult. Social media provides more easily accessible channels for promoting and disseminating scientific knowledge than an old-fashioned journal article. A scientist on social media can reach a broader audience with their ideas and share preliminary results to accelerate discovery more rapidly than if they had only published the final product of an experiment
The second reason is that publishing scientific knowledge through different channels can broaden access to this knowledge. This democratizes the dissemination of research and accelerates discovery. For example, an article in a scholarly journal might not be read by those who cannot afford the subscription or don’t have access to it at their university library. This means that they are less likely to come across this information and participate in scientific discourse about it or apply these findings for new purposes—or even know that there is a scientific debate going on about the topic in question.
Therefore, even if you have published your work in an article or monograph and made it available to all interested people worldwide through traditional channels like libraries, there is still value in using social media because they can help with making this information more accessible and easily discoverable by those who might not be able to access it through traditional channels.
The best thing is that you can use social media as a tool for outreach and democratizing the dissemination of knowledge. At the same time, have an audience that will hopefully provide feedback about your work-in-progress, suggestions for improving experiments, or avenues of research not previously considered. So if we want to keep the process of scientific knowledge dissemination and discovery moving forward, it is good to have scientists on social media.
In conclusion, a scientist needs to be using social media for two reasons: (a) making their research accessible and discoverable by those who can’t access journals or need assistance with reading them; and (b) democratizing dissemination of knowledge to accelerate discovery.
By the way, I edit scientific articles for a living. I can help you publish yours.