Research scientists and social networks (part 2)

In my last post I introduced a theme that I’m going to follow up over the next couple of posts: are social networks really being used by research scientists?

It’s a valid question, I argued, because not every segment of the academic – let alone the general – publisher marketplace has the same information needs and workflow systems. The working day of a research scientist needs to be considered for what it is – not for what we think it is – in the same way as a social scientist’s needs to be, or a literary critic’s needs to be, or a Dan Brown reader’s needs to be.

I suggested that the premise that for a social network to succeed, it relies on the following assumptions:

1. that the target user audience has something they want to share
2. that they want to share it
3. that they have time to share it

So are these premises true in the case of research scientists?

I work within academic science publishing. I talk to scientists often. I’m married to one! So although these thoughts are not quantitative, they are qualitative.

So what about the first question: do research scientists have things they want to share?

This very interesting article by Kent Anderson of Scholarly Kitchen suggests not.

But I think the answer is ‘yes’. Sure, some information that a research scientists produces falls under the category of ‘restricted’. But lots doesn’t. There are insights about recently published papers and science presentations or discussions, as well as information about grants, careers, science policy, and other items can all be of interest.

Some people say: ‘there are other means for scientists to access this information; in fact, more controlled ways, like RSS or Google News’.

True, but there’s nothing like social media to flag up that little-known paper, research finding or presentation. And the beauty of social networks is that, once they are posted about, they enter a web of interest and engagement from a community which adds to their value.

Anyway, more about that in the next post, when I move on to the second question: if it’s true that research scientists have information to share, do they want to do it? That’s a more knotty question. More next time…