Several statistics show that the general public holds a wide interest on scientific issues. However, the public rarely finds their way to academic arenas. It has been estimated that every year over two million scientific articles and reports are published, but roughly half of them are read only by the author and the editors. Public discussions are increasingly taking place in social media. Different online media are reported as central information sources when searching for scientific information. What can we do as researchers to help people to find the information they look for? How to make a researcher's voice heard online? Communicating about one's research in social media means creating societal impact and defending a scientific worldview. In this workshop we will focus on practical tips and good examples on how to engage in different social media services as a researcher. Salla-Maaria Laaksonen (@jahapaula) is a PhD Candidate and Researcher in Communication Research Centre CRC and Consumer Society Research Centre in the University of Helsinki. Her research areas are focused on the online public sphere from the perspective of organizations and storytelling. She has trained researchers to communicate and network online in several different research units. A 
brown bag session for Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Novermber 17th 2015.

1.
Research
and expertise
in social media
Brown bag session for Helsinki
Collegium for Advanced Studies"
17.11.2015!
!
!
Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Ms. Soc. Sc!
salla.laaksonen at helsinki.fi
@jahapaula
1
Picture via Amazon & Pinterest
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/157766793169480034/

2. Agenda
!
• The big picture of science communication!
!
• The role of social media for researchers
• How can different social media services be used to
disseminate research knowledge and expertise?!
• How to create societal impact through social media?

3. 3
The World Bank recently decided to ask an important question: Is
anyone actually reading these things? They dug into their Web site
traffic data and came to the following conclusions: Nearly one-third of
their PDF reports had never been downloaded, not even once.
Another 40 percent of their reports had been downloaded fewer
than 100 times. Only 13 percent had seen more than 250 downloads
in their lifetimes. Since most World Bank reports have a stated
objective of informing public debate or government policy, this seems
like a pretty lousy track record.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/08/the-solutions-to-all-our-problems-may-be-buried-in-pdfs-that-nobody-reads/

4. 4http://www.tieteentiedotus.fi/files/Sciencebarometer_2013_netsummary.pdf a

5. 90%"
72%
51%"
69%"
47%
”Not enough science”
”Researchers should listen
to laymen”
”Universities are too
separate of other society
and everyday life”
”Trusts universities
and university
researchers”
Britain Public Attitudes to Science 2014 /
Finnish Science Barometer 2013!
http://www.tieteentiedotus.fi/files/Tiedebarometri_2013_net.pdf
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/
3357/Public-Attitudes-to-Science-2014.aspx#gallery[m]/0/

7. http://qz.com/269227/brace-yourself-for-the-corporate-journalism-wave/

8. Three good reasons to
communicate about your research
1. The third mission of the university: societal impact
2.Own expert brand – within the scientific
community and outside
3.Defending the scientific worldview and general
trust in science

9. Social
media for
researchers
86 % of Finns aged
16–89 are online
!
64 % uses Internet
several times a day

10. Genres of social media
16.9.2014
10
1. Collaborative productions (wiki, e.g. Wikipedia)
2. Social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Academia.edu…)
3. Content sharing (e.g. YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, SlideShare)
4. Blogs and microblogs (blogging platforms, Twitter)
5. Virtual worlds (social interaction and play, e.g. Second Life,
World of Warcraft)
6. Internet forums (e.g. Usenet, Reddit, Suomi24, MuroBBS…)
(Laaksonen et al. 2013; based on Kaplan & Haenlein 2010;
Lietsala & Sirkkunen 2008, Luoma-aho 2010)

11. In addition…
• Add-ons: features of a site that can be used in a
another service (e.g. Google Maps, FB Connect)
• Aggregators: feed services that bring together
different elements and platforms (Friendfeed,
Flipboard, phone apps)
• Live audiences: commenting and participating in a
event or media show virtually in real time (social TV
platforms, live-blogging, live-tweeting)
(Lietsala & Sirkkunen 2008; Luoma-Aho 2010)
11

12. (Nature, 2014)
• Over 50% of researchers use social networking services (e.g., Google Scholar,
ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook). Most commonly they:
▪ have a profiles in ResearchGate or Mendeley
▪ post research material online (also Massoli, 2007; Trench, 2012)
▪ monitor issues related to their own area
▪ network and collaborate inside the academic community (also Ciber, University
College London & Emerald Group Publishing Ltd 2010; Eperen & Marincola
2011).
• Only 15 % regard ResearchGate as interactive, but over 50% of Twitter users
consider it as a good arena for research-related discussions
Researchers’ use of social media?

13. (Nature, 2014)
LinkedIn
Most popular professional
networking service both
globally and in Finland.
Works as an online CV and
network-building tool. Also
some practices of sharing
content and having peer
discussions in groups.
Recently added an option to
list one’s own publications.!
Users: over 400 milion, In FInland
circa 782 000 (somehow.fi)
An arena to be
listed on, just
in case!

14. Networking services for researchers
Academia.edu Researchgate.net
16

15. (Nature, 2014)
Facebook
Most popular social
networking service in the
world and in Finland. Well
suited for all kinds of
content sharing and
founding groups. A great
deal of the interaction
takes place in closed
profiles, but for public
communication pages and
groups are a good option.
Pages are good for regular
updates and promoting,
groups for conversation.
Users: 1.39 billion active, Finland
2,4 million (est.) (56%)
Most researchers do
not use professio-
nally! But if they do,
they post content.

16. Twitter
Currently the second most
popular social networking
service in the world. Also
called a microblog; tweets
are small updates of 140
characters. Thus, to use
Twitter well one needs to
learn how to be concise.
Twitter is often used to
share links to content
elsewhere in the web – it
works well as a light
marketing channel. Also
used as a backchannel for
events and conferences.
!
Users: 288 million monthly active.
Finland around 355 000 (10%).
Following, posting,
sharing, discussing,
connecting… Twitter
is used actively to
participate
(Nature, 2014)

17. Spread the word!
• LinkedIn, Academia.edu and
ResearchGate to transfer your
networks to digital and to
follow your peers
• Twitter and Facebook to
disseminate links to your
research and all other writings
and presentations, as well as
other interesting content
• If you have longer points to
make, use a blog to argument
your point in a popular style
and to comment on timely
issues
• Use paper repositories and
SlideShare to publish your
materials 17

18. #hashtag
denotes
conversation
and
communities
across
services
18

19. “Social media” are
really just
technologies that
facilitate
conversations.
(Carton S. 2009)
Kuva: Free-Photo-Gallery.org

20. But why and how to build expertise
and network in social media?

21. #discoverability

22. http://blog.lindau-nobel.org/the-verdict-is-blogging-or-tweeting-about-research-papers-worth-it/
#impact
• Visibility in social media (e.g.
tweeting, blogging) can bring
more views to a research
articles (Terras,2012):
• Articles of a control group
were available through
University College London
open access database and
were downloaded 1–2 times
on average.
• Articles shared in social
media were downloaded
approximately 70 times during
the day tweeted.
20

23. 23
(Poutanen & Laaksonen, 2015b)

24. 24
Expert on
duty, online
police of a
topic
A researcher
expert brand

25. 30
A simple contentstrategy fora musician
Optimize the timing with the 10-20 rule:
– Young 9-10pm
– Office workers weekdays 10-11am
– (Kortesuo, 2010, 42-43; Parviainen & Lähdevuori, 2012)

26. Listen, learn, discuss, share!
12
• Figure out what is the core knowledge you have
and you want to be known for – focus and
concentrate.
• Find the people who are interested in this area and
the places where they already are online – listen,
learn, and benchmark.
• Connect with those people and start producing
content – comment, join conversations, share links.
• Formulate your own motives and goals – don’t
communicate just for communication, but for
concrete results and reasons.
• SNS’s are people centric - but the same list applies
also for research teams and projects.

27. !
If (social media interaction is often)
then (Open access + social media = increased
downloads …and reach).
!
!
(Terras 2014)
27

28. EXERCISE:
Crafting a research tweet
”You have 140 characters to tell what was the point in your
most recent research article.”
!
Write a tweet of 140 characters to summarize your latest paper.
How to convince a normal citizen to check it out? What hashtags
could you use?
https://storify.com/chronicle/test

29. Twitter
• A good twitter
update:
– Timely
– Very short
– Contains information
or an argument
– Contains a links
(shortened)
– Takes part in
conversations with a
#hashtag
• Karma of
reciprocity!

30. References and materials
• Kortesuo, Katarina (2010). Sano se someksi. Infor, helsinki.!
• Kouper, Inna (2010) Science blogs and public engagement with science: Practices, challenges, and opportunities. Journal of
Science Communication, 9(1), 1-10. http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/09/01/Jcom0901%282010%29A02/Jcom0901%282010%29A02.pdf!
• Laaksonen, S. M., Matikainen, J., & Tikka, M. (2013). Tutkimusotteita verkosta. Teoksessa Laaksonen, Salla-Maaria & Matikainen,
Janne & Tikka, Minttu (toim.): Otteita verkosta. Verkon ja sosiaalisen median tutkimusmenetelmät. Vastapaino. Tampere, 9-33.!
• Lietsala, K. & Sirkkunen, E. (2008) Social media. Introduction to the tools and processes of participatory economy.
Hypermedialaboratorion verkkojulkaisuja - Hypermedia Laboratory Net Series, 17. Tampere University Press.!
• Luoma-aho, B. V. (2010). Is social media killing our theories? Viestinnän tutkimuksen päivät 2010.!
• Nature (2014) Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Richard Van Noorden. 13 August 2014. http://
www.nature.com/news/online-collaboration-scientists-and-the-social-network-1.15711?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews!
• Parviainen, Olli & Lähdevuori, Jari (2012). Suomalaisten Facebook-sivujen tila. Tutkimus markkinoinnista ja viestinnästä
Facebookissa. http://www.divia.fi/divia/sites/default/files/Suomalaisten_Facebook-sivujen_tila_2012.pdf !
• Poutanen, P. & Laaksonen, S-M. (2015): “Miksi vaivautua?” Tutkimusmaailman trendit haastavat tutkijat viestimään työstään: http://
blogs.helsinki.fi/tiedeviestinta/2015/05/06/miksi-vaivautua-tutkimusmaailman-trendit-haastavat-tutkijat-viestimaan-tyostaan/!
• Poutanen, P. & Laaksonen, S-M. (2015). Tiede sosiaalisessa mediassa -harjoituskurssi. University of Helsinki, course in science
communication, autumns 2014/2015.!
• Pew Research Center (2014) Social Media and the ‘Spiral of Silence’. http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/26/social-media-and-
the-spiral-of-silence/!
• Public Attitudes to Science (2014) http://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2014/mar/14/how-to-read-the-latest-data-
on-public-attitudes-to-science!
• Saikkonen, Sampsa & Väliverronen, Esa (2013) Popularisoinnista osallistavaan tiedeviestintään. Kriittinen arvio ”demokraattisesta”
käänteestä. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 78(4), 16-424. http://www.julkari.fi/handle/10024/110430!
• Tiedebarometri (2013) http://www.tieteentiedotus.fi/files/Tiedebarometri_2013_net.pdf // http://www.tieteentiedotus.fi/files/
Sciencebarometer_2013_netsummary.pdf !
• Väliverronen, Esa (2014) Sosiaalinen kupla kaventaa mediamaisemaa. http://medykblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/sosiaalinen-
kupla-kaventaa-mediamaisemaa/!
• Waldrop M. Mitchell (2008). Science 2.0: Great New Tool, or Great Risk? Scientific American, 298(5), 68-73. http://
www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-2-point-0-great-new-tool-or-great-risk/!
• Wilcox, Christie (2012) It's Time To e-Volve: Taking Responsibility for Science Communication in a Digital Age. Biological Bulletin.
222(2), 85-87. http://www.biolbull.org/content/222/2/85.full