Edmonton bear biologist finds Twitter boosts academic research | The Star

"Social media may be a distraction, but it can also be a valuable way for scientists to get their work out, according to a new study from the University of Alberta. The research showed ecologists and conservation scientists who talk about their work online are more likely to see it get noticed by others, both in and outside of the academy. Clayton Lamb, a University of Alberta PhD student who studies grizzly bears, published the study with one co-author from University of British Columbia and one from the University of Idaho. It examined more than 8,000 ecological and conservation research articles and found that works promoted online using channels such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs were cited by other researchers at a higher rate.

Before social media, academics relied on university press releases to publicize their research, and just had to hope media organizations caught wind, Lamb said. The science, however, often got garbled along the way: “If scientists are not involved, things can get sideways,” he explained. It’s “like a game of telephone, where then the message ends up different from the one you originally published in the scientific literature. So there’s value to the researcher being involved — to steer that message in the direction of the evidence you produce,” he said. With social media, academics can promote papers themselves and debate their work with peers and members of the public alike."