Think Social Media is Useless?

Look again at Twitter. Here’s an article about it in Mashable –  15 Twitter Accounts for Incredible Science Facts.

Notice that the folks doing the Twittering are people like Neal deGrasse Tyson, Chris Hadfield, Carl Zimmer, and Bill Nye – as well as NSF and the Science Channel!  If you don’t recognize the names, check out the article, and follow some of them for a taste of science news in 140-character bites.

Even though you may not be a scientist, or a science nerd, your students/clients may be interested, and this may be a way to draw them toward considering social media as a way to get (or give) information – (also called networking).  They, too, could become known for information posted, expertise demonstrated, willingness to share what was learned. (Actually, so can you…)

And, they could begin conversations with the likes of Neal deGrasse Tyson, Commander Hadfield and others who post on Twitter. It’s an opportunity for networking that did not exist a few years ago.

And, remember that science is not the only topic people are Twittering about. Any occupation, any field or academic discipline, interest, hobby, sport, lifestyle, and location has people talking about it.

For example, look at this list, too.

Just take a moment to think about how you (or your students/clients) could use the opportunity to engage with leaders in ANY field of interest, and to become known as well.

(This post has been revised from the original of 2013.)