Scientists Use Social Media - The Diigo Meta page

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• 01 Nov 08
  

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  Overview of recent survey of scientists' use of social media.

  social_media social_networking science2.0 scholarship2.0

  • BioInformatics LLC conducted a survey in November 2007 that found some interesting trends:

     
     
    • 77% of life scientists participate in some type of social media
     
    • 50% see blogs, discussion groups, online communities, and social networking as beneficial to sharing ideas with colleagues
     
    • 85% see social media affecting their decision-making
     
    • Discussion groups and message boards are still the most-used types of sites, but online communities are gaining fast
     
    • User-generated content is not completely trusted for product information, but it is more trusted than information in printed trade magazines, editorial web sites, or online portals

  • Elsevier’s survey went a little further than the earlier survey, asking respondents to name sites. This generated a Top 11 list of social media sites in the sciences:

     
     
    1. Nature Network (36%)
     
    2. BioMed Experts (35%)
     
    3. Facebook (35%)
     
    4. MySpace (34%)
     
    5. LinkedIn (33%)
     
    6. ResearcherID (19%)
     
    7. CiteULike (18%)
     
    8. 2collab (18%)
     
    9. del.icio.us (15%)
     
    10. Connotea (14%)
     
    11. Digg (14%)
  • One of my normal conceits around what works and what doesn’t is “workflow.” Things should fit into a user’s workflow.

  • What is surprising to me is that social media designed specifically to “socialize” traditional workflow functions aren’t used as much. In fact, Connotea, 2collab, and ResearcherID rank lower than most.

     

    These results actually make me question the workflow mental model. Nature Network isn’t about workflow. BioMed Experts is about browsing social networks and connecting, so isn’t much about workflow. Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn? I don’t care how much you force-fit those into workflows, they aren’t about work. (LinkedIn can be about finding a job, but not about doing a current job.) Each one is about social connections.

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• 23 Aug 08
  

  Lisa Spiro

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• 14 Aug 08
  

  Christina Pikas

  meta_science_blogging delicious

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