title: Twittering About Research: A Case Study of the World's First Twitter Poster Competition.
abstract: The Royal Society of Chemistry held, to our knowledge, the world's first Twitter conference at 9am on February 5 (th), 2015. The conference was a Twitter-only conference, allowing researchers to upload academic posters as tweets, replacing a physical meeting. This paper reports the details of the event and discusses the outcomes, such as the potential for the use of social media to enhance scientific communication at conferences. In particular, the present work argues that social media outlets such as Twitter broaden audiences, speed up communication, and force clearer and more concise descriptions of a researcher's work. The benefits of poster presentations are also discussed in terms of potential knowledge exchange and networking. This paper serves as a proof-of-concept approach for improving both the public opinion of the poster, and the enhancement of the poster through an innovative online format that some may feel more comfortable with, compared to face-to-face communication.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Science and the Environment, Division of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Edward P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Randviir
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Science and the Environment, Division of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Samuel M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Illingworth
authors.affiliation: WestCHEM, Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cude
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Science and the Environment, Division of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Craig E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Banks
keywords: Chemistry; Communication; Competition; Conference; Engagement; Poster; Twitter, Research