Social media and Science

After recently attending the SfAM Summer conference in Dublin it was plain to see that social media was playing a big role in science and communication.

The SfAM Twitter provided information about the conference to those present, and those away, throughout the duration of the conference. This was also done by the 'hashtag' #sfamsc11.

http://www.twitter.com/

Being in control of SfAM's Twitter (probably the best thing that's ever happened to me!) made me aware of what an impact our tweets about the conference had. The amount of replies, mentions and re-tweets was very encouraging (and an increase in followers is always a plus!).

The 'hashtag' worked really well, with delegates at the conference also tweeting amongst each other and viewing the tweets throughout the conference.
It was also great to see so many new 'tweeters' with several delegates signing up to Twitter and getting involved. It was also encouraging to see a few of the keynote speakers (Alan Reilly and Alec Kyriakides from 'Ireland's Food Safety Authority & Sainsbury's) also promote the importance of social media.

Due to social media, particularly Twitter, being highly successful at this year's conference, it's likely that social media will continue to go from strength to strength within the science community.