Will Loop, a New Social Network for Scientists, Help or Hinder Research? | Motherboard

"Loop, a new social network for scientists, aims to transform how they promote their work by dragging research into the era of clicks and likes. But some scientists aren’t so sure that Loop will be a valuable tool for researchers—instead, they’re worried that it will exploit them for profit. Loo​p allows researchers to create profiles, network with colleagues, and post their published articles to a Facebook-style news feed, with the end goal of increasing the reach of their work, also known as 'impact' in publishing jargon. Loop also gives researchers an in-depth look at who is viewing their articles—broken down by gender, specialty, and degree, for example—and across social media, blogs, and websites using the A​ltmetric analytics platform. Non-scientists can join, too, potentially making it a way more interesting alternative to Facebook, if you’re interested in reading research papers ... Loop is backed by Frontiers Media and its parent company Nat​ure Publishing Group, one of the largest research publishers in the world. By integrating Loop profiles with articles posted on Frontiers and various Nature journals, the site will provide increased visibility for researchers across multiple platforms as well as give itself a built-in advantage over competing networks like Res​earchGate—which boastsmillion​s of users—and Mend​eley, both of which aren’t tied to any journals ..."