on social media means dealing with nay-
sayers, but it also provides the opportunity
to engage such people in thoughtful and
productive science discussion.
Ashley Barbara Heim
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Email: [email protected]As with any new channel of communica-
tion, the signal-to-noise ratio can be very
low—if we learn how to listen.
E. Loren Buhle, Jr.
DNAnexus, Mountain View, CA 94040, USA.
Email: [email protected]Social media has enabled delivery of
information in an economically solvent
manner to scientists and the general
populace in all parts of the world, making
science more accessible and equitable.
Veerasathpurush Allareddy
Department of Orthodontics, University of Illinois
at Chicago College of Dentistry, Chicago, IL
60612, USA. Email: [email protected]On social media, scientists have to be clear
and succinct, an incentive to eliminate
jargon and streamline the message.
Theresa Oehmke
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
03824, USA. Twitter: @t_oehmke608 11 FEBRUARY 2022 • VOL 375 ISSUE 6581 science.org SCIENCE
ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKERand effectively; and it’s free to everyone
(the writer and the readers).
Prosanta Chakrabarty
Museum of Natural Science, Department of
Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
Twitter: @PREAUX_FISHMy classmates, friends, family, and neighbors
don’t read Science or subscribe to experts’
blogs, but they might listen to me.
Ádám Kun
Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology, and
Theoretical Biology, Eötvös University, Budapest,
1117, Hungary. Email: [email protected]Social media is becoming the go-to venue
for science communication. Sharing scienceNEXTGEN VOICES
We asked young scientists to answer this question in the form of
a tweet: Is social media good or evil when it comes to science
communication? Read a selection of their thoughts below. Follow
NextGen Voices on Twitter with hashtag #NextGenSci. —Jennifer Sills
Social media: Good or evil?
LETTERS
INSIGHTS
Good
Early in the pandemic, I had a nightmare:
I went to my field’s major annual confer-
ence but forgot to go to all the parties.
Two years into the pandemic, I can defini-
tively say that Twitter is the next best
thing. If I can’t go to conferences, I can at
least have internet friends.
Caitlin M. Aamodt
Department of Neurosciences, University of
California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Twitter: @CaitlinAamodt
Social media is a force for good. It levels
the playing field (you don’t need to be a
senior scientist to spread the message);
you can reach a broad audience quickly