Now that you know how to produce many different types of content, you’re probably wondering how to get the most out of the platforms on which you are posting your awesome science communication content. This section will provide a brief overview of best practices for top platforms. Use this, along with your social listening and your preferred types of content creation as guides to choose the two or three platforms you will post on regularly. This section covers Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest and SnapChat. The next section will discuss some emerging platforms: TikTok, Spotify, and WeChat.
Facebook: Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. Different demograpics of people tend to use Facebook differently, with baby boomers and Gen X using it more socially than Gen Y or Z who mainly use it to stay in touch with family and school. In a practical sense, Facebook is probably best used for connecting with members of your community. Join community groups to connect with people around you, and add colleagues, friends and connections. You can use Facebook to post images of yourself and your science or interesting news articles related to your topic. Facebook could also be a good platform to engage in content curation activities.
Twitter: According to the Social Media Lab, 42 percent of online Canadians use Twitter. Twitter is a microblog on which you can make posts of up to 280 characters as well as post images and short video. There is a large community of scientists, researchers and academics on Twitter, so it can be good for broadening your scholarly network. Twitter is also popular among journalists, meaning you may be able to use it as a way to connect with journalists who could feature you and your work in a future story. Like Facebook, Twitter is a good place to curate content related to your area of interest. It can also be a good place to share articles when they are published. Use social listening to identify relevant hashtags related to your topic and ensure you are using the best hashtags on your posts to get the most reach.
Instagram: Instagram is most popular among Gen Y and Gen Z and is a place with a large influencer culture. Instagram is a visual social network, so post images and short videos here. Like Twitter, you want to use social listening to identify the best hashtags to accompany your posts. Instagram is the best place to post science selfies and other visual content. Infographics could be useful here. Try experimenting with Instagram stories to create “a day in the lab” type posts or other behind the scenes content.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is mainly used for professional networking in the private sector, but it could be really useful if you want to communicate your science to a professional audience. Join groups on LinkedIn where you feel you could add your expertise to the conversation. If you are interested in reaching the LinkedIn audience, you also have the option of hosting your blog within the platform itself.
YouTube: YouTube is one of the main places young people go to learn something. Google reports that 80% of the Gen Z people they polled indicated that YouTube has helped them become more knowledgeable about something (link), and many also turn to YouTube for news. Since YouTube is becoming such a popular place to learn, it’s a great fit for science communication, which has the aim of teaching the public about science. YouTube is best used in conjunction with another social media network like Twitter and Facebook, which will allow you to cross-post your video content in order to build your audience. Keep your videos short and engaging, and try to find ways to connect your science videos with current events or issues for greater interest.
Pinterest: Like Instagram, Pinterest is a very visual medium. Unlike Instagram, it allows you to link directly to other content around the web. This makes it very good for content curation. It’s less personal than instagram, so would not be a good platform for posting science selfies or a day in the lab. Instead, curate content relevant to your topic area and use Pinterest to cross post your blog or website content. Pinterest is most popular among women, according to omnicore (link), and tends to be used in an aspirational way. For this reason, featuring posts about women and girls in science could be a good way to create engaging Pinterest content.
Reddit: In contrast to Pinterest, Reddit tends to attract a demographic of mostly young men according to Tech Junkie (link). Reddit is a message board type platform on which people post content from elsewhere on the web and comment on it, or ask and answer questions. Thus it is good for both curating content and asking science questions. Subreddits are communities on reddit devoted to specific topics or issues. Use social listening to identify the best subreddits for you to participate on, but be careful – each Reddit community has its own character and some are definitely NSFW! Good subreddits for communicating science include r/iAMA (ask me anything), r/science, and r/askscience, but there are many more related to almost every topic, so search Reddit to find ones that align with your interest.
Snapchat: Snapchat is growing quickly, particularly outside of North America, and allows for short videos and pictures to be sent among groups of users. Part of its popularity comes from Snapchat filters, which allow people to add flair to the images and videos they post. For this reason, Snapchat could be useful for science selfie type content, or for a day in the life of a scientist type content. As Snapchat remains less popular than Instagram, however, only use this platform if you know of a community you want to reach who are on it.
The next section will cover three innovative new platforms that may not be as popular as the ones mentioned on this page, but that show interesting potential for science communication.