title: How Are Scientists Using Social Media in the Workplace?
abstract: Social media has created networked communication channels that facilitate interactions and allow information to proliferate within professional academic communities as well as in informal social circumstances. A significant contemporary discussion in the field of science communication is how scientists are using (or might use) social media to communicate their research. This includes the role of social media in facilitating the exchange of knowledge internally within and among scientific communities, as well as externally for outreach to engage the public. This study investigates how a surveyed sample of 587 scientists from a variety of academic disciplines, but predominantly the academic life sciences, use social media to communicate internally and externally. Our results demonstrate that while social media usage has yet to be widely adopted, scientists in a variety of disciplines use these platforms to exchange scientific knowledge, generally via either Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or blogs. Despite the low frequency of use, our work evidences that scientists perceive numerous potential advantages to using social media in the workplace. Our data provides a baseline from which to assess future trends in social media use within the science academy.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Kimberley
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami, Miami, FL, United States of America.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shiffman
authors.affiliation: Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-608X
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rock
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D057218:Blogging; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012106:Research; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult