Online media and science make for awkward partners

The mainstream media used to be responsible for sharing science with the public, but scientists, their institutions, and the knowledge they produce now reach citizens via a myriad of social networking platforms and other tools. A video on nano quadrotors generates seven million views on YouTube, the keyword “science” produced two billion Google search results in 0.16 seconds, and the ScienceAlert Facebook page has three million “likes.” Welcome to the new age of science communication.

These new changes may significantly impact how the public understands science or perceives new scientific developments, according to a review of studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The review, conducted by Dominique Brossard of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examines recent major research findings related to science communication online and considers their implications for science in the 21st century.

According to the National Science Foundation’s biannual Science and Engineering Indicators report, by 2004, the Internet had become a significant resource for people searching for information about science, although television remained the dominant medium when it came to the overall time spent interacting with science content. That changed for the first time in 2012, when television and the Internet were described as "equally likely" to be the primary source of information about science and technology.