The top five social media platforms for scientists

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media was an exceptionally powerful tool for scientists.

According to one recent study, during the pandemic, the most viral public posts by scientists on X involved scientists firmly expressing their own opinions and making calls to action. The most visible scientists did not just transmit information, but also involved themselves in political and social discourses, freely offering opinions and ideas, and inspiring the broader public to act. Social media has allowed scientists not just to disseminate their own research, but to act as influential leaders on public behavior and policy.

Another influential study explored the ways that scientists use social media in their workplaces. According to this survey, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn were each used by over 50% of respondents. They posted the most about research within their field, general science outreach and communications, and personal research projects. The study concluded that a high percentage of scientists also read and write blog posts, and that relatively few scientists make regular use of academia-themed social networks like Mendeley or Academia.edu.

Social media can help scientists stay up to date in their field, connect with other researchers around the world, proliferate their research findings, and even advance their careers.

But which platforms should scientists focus the most on making use of, and which ones aren’t worth the time investment?

In this article, we review the top five social media platforms for scientists based on use within the scientific community, benefits and to drawbacks, and positive impacts on scientific research outcomes.

1. X (Formerly Twitter)

Although the Elon Musk-run platform has become highly controversial for its frequent instances of hate speech and outrage-driven posting, it remains the single best social media platform for researchers and scientists.

Here are the main uses of the platform for scientists—why the site is just so valuable to researchers:

• Circulating papers gives them more exposure. In fact, sharing research on X is even associated with increased citations and better citation metrics.
• The science community is enormous and active on X: two million research-associated posts were recorded every week in January 2024. As a result, scientists can find others to network with in highly niche research areas. Even better, a high repost-to-post ratio means that most users are happy to share content from other users that they feel is valuable. And importantly, viewing one another’s personal comments and posts helps to forge deeper bonds between scientists and communities.
• The platform serves as a treasure trove of information. Scientists make use of paper-searching bots to scour the site for relevant studies, journals, and posts.
• Labs and research groups share new job postings, grant recipients, and research updates. Most individuals don’t check institutional websites regularly, so standard communications and updates are more widely viewed on popular social platforms.

In order to make best use of the platform, scientists should fill out all the details of their profile, including a relevant handle, biography, and cover image. Ideally, you can tag your institution and funding body—i.e.: “Researcher at @university working on xxx funded by @fundingbody”.

From there, get to work connecting with scientists in your field. Researchers commonly follow other scientists and laboratories, academic libraries and scientific professional organizations, science communicators and journalists, and technology influencers. If you follow a lot of different accounts in both personal and professional areas, you can always make “Lists” to separate work colleagues from personal interests.

When posting, remember that everything you share on X is ultimately available to a general audience. For that reason, it’s ideal to avoid jargon and discuss the results from your studies as if you are communicating them to the broader public. Use a thread of multiple posts to wade deeper into the details. Posts that have visuals attached also tend to perform better.

2. LinkedIn

On the surface, LinkedIn can seem a bit off base for scientists. Some may see it as a self-congratulatory job board, full of confusing corporate jargon, self-promotion, and a toxic “grindset” culture.

But the truth of the matter is that science jobs are plentiful and available on the platform. LinkedIn is a vital tool for scientists to connect with others in their field, especially when in pursuit of career opportunities. LinkedIn has over 69 million companies on the website and over 100 million job applications per month. The career orientation of the platform means that other users are actively searching for people to hire, network with, and collaborate with.

Apart from job-hunting, LinkedIn has a community of active scientists on the platform. One scientist was able to gain as many as 18,000 followers in a single month, re-sharing their threads from Twitter on X. They immediately encountered a vibrant community by responding to comments and networking with industry scientists. As a result, the scientist quickly landed a new job and eventually built their own business.

Using LinkedIn in the same way you use other social platforms also works well: popular posts can receive millions of impressions, allowing scientists to share their original discoveries or commentary on ongoing industry or research trends in front of a large, general audience.

Here are a few tips and tricks for optimizing your LinkedIn experience as a scientist:

• Be careful about crafting your headline. LinkedIn has a number of sections that you can fill out on your profile, including the headline, the featured section, and the about section. Use each of these sections to emphasize why fellow scientists will want to connect with you.
• Don’t shy away from networking. Connect with any scientist or research professional who you could benefit from knowing. When sending invites to connections that could genuinely benefit your career, make sure to personalize the request with a note. These connections could lead to both research collaborations and, more commonly than you might expect, job and career opportunities!
• Highlight your achievements. Use the experience section of the profile to include detailed descriptions of your research publications, projects, and patents.
• Be authentic. The posts and comments that receive the most engagement are those that communicate your expertise as a professional but also your general opinions and interests.
• Take full advantage of more niche features. On LinkedIn, you can join groups centered around specific scientific interests, give recommendations and endorsements to your colleagues, and look at the analytics on your posts to tailor your content to your audiences.

3. Reddit

Reddit, while fundamentally different from X and LinkedIn, has proven to be a valuable home for scientists and researchers in search of more niche communities and discussions.

Reddit is divided into subreddits, online discussion boards and communities, dedicated to every subject. In the world of science, some particularly active subreddits with genuine scientific discussion include r/biotech, r/postdoc, r/research, r/labrats, r/PhD, and r/AskAcademia. Users share news, discussion topics, and questions related to the topic in question.

These servers are particularly rich for getting responses to queries or feedback on ideas. Whereas on X or LinkedIn people tend to engage with more dynamic or “viral” content, on Reddit, researchers can get answers even to niche scientific questions.

Scientists report getting quality networking out of the platform, as well as effective science communication. One astronomy PhD spent time debunking common myths about supernovae to great effect, eventually ending up with her own 17,000-member subreddit where she shares research and expertise. Some scientists will do “AMAs,” where the general public can “ask them anything” about their research. And while this opportunity is limited to researchers with large public followings, it is a one-of-a-kind way to disseminate scientific findings to the public.

Perhaps the most common use of the platform is to follow trends in one’s particular field, as well as learn tips and tricks from other scientists. For example, users on r/biotech focus on sharing news about the industry as well as groundbreaking biotech innovations. Whereas on r/research, members share tips and questions about research challenges, such as conducting literature reviews and improving laboratory protocols.

A meme about science shared on Reddit.

4. Mastodon

In the wake of Elon Musk’s controversial acquisition of Twitter in 2023, a number of scientists fled the platform in favor of two others: Bluesky and Mastodon. Mastodon is the more niche, science-oriented, and complex of the two, but it offers scientists a uniquely powerful platform for networking and community-building.

The platform is completely decentralized, so individuals or organizations set up servers where they can host others under the banner of a particular community, category, or group. Scientists have reported that joining Mastodon is like going for drinks after an academic conference: they could easily engage with and talk to others already knowledgeable about science and research. Rather than broadcasting discoveries to a large audience like on X, Mastodon centers around having high-quality discussions with like-minded individuals.

While the platform is a bit more technical to use, here are the basics of understanding and making the most of Mastodon:

1. Find a Mastodon server. Each server is an independently run entity, where an individual or organization took the Mastodon software and installed it on a server that they control. Whoever runs this server is essentially a moderator—they can tweak the software, moderate content, shut down accounts, and even read private communications. For this reason, make sure that you trust the organization or body that runs the server of your choice. Here is a list of academic and science-oriented Mastodon servers: https://github.com/nathanlesage/academics-on-mastodon
2. Fill out your profile. As with other social media platforms, you should fill out your profile with a bio and a photo, and get verified (which is free to do).
3. Get familiar with your server and start posting. There is no algorithm on Mastodon, so you view the posts and boosts from people that you follow in reverse chronological order. Each server has a different dynamic, but a good way to explore is to search using hashtags. Since there is no full text search function on Mastodon, make sure you add appropriate hashtags to your posts when you want that post to be seen and searchable. You’ll need to follow others within your server to get a handle on what hashtags are used and how people like to interact on the server.
   

5. Bluesky

Bluesky is the other platform to benefit from animosity toward X in the wake of Musk’s acquisition of the site. In one recent poll, an amazing 70% of readers of the journal Nature said that they use the platform. The users showered the platform with praise, making comments such as “there is much less toxicity, misinformation, and distractions” and “my feed is almost entirely scientists and I actually get updates on research that is relevant and timely.”  

Poll respondents indicated that they preferred Bluesky for having positive and civilized conversations, for being less antagonistic toward science and scientists, and for having less racism. On the flip side, Bluesky has fewer users than X, so there are fewer active conversations and discussions on most topics.

Bluesky is essentially a copy of the “old” Twitter, where users have control over what they see without an algorithm determining it. However, like X, Bluesky does have a top-down content moderation, controlled by Bluesky LLC. There are currently well over 30 million users of Bluesky, although the exact number of scientists on the platform is unclear.  Essentially the platform has most of the same uses as X, but with a smaller userbase. 

Nonetheless, Bluesky does have some unique features. Bluesky’s “starter packs”, or lists of accounts and feeds created by users to help new joiners find communities, have received particular praise. A recent research survey showed that around 5% of the starter packs on the website are related to research and science, indicating the prevalence of scientific discussions on the platform.

At the current moment, Bluesky seems to strike a balance between being a cozy community while still having a wide enough reach to allow scientists to communicate with policymakers, journalists, and the general public.