July 2014
Contents / home
Tweeting for science
Debates winners off to New York
Antarctica experience for volunteer
Learners take project to Beijing
SAASTA takes on Bloodhound
National Science Olympiad turns 50
Science Centre World Summit 2014
Mobile lab boosts science and maths
Nanotechnology workshops
Volunteers scale dizzy heights
Meet Azwinndini Muronga
Film Festival shows research project
Connecting fish, rivers and people
Blind astronomer inspires learners
Astronomy outreach
Physics for young investigators
In the news
Upcoming events
It's a fact!

Tweeting for science
A peek behind part of SAASTA's social media outreach programme

 
 
  In journalism they say 'content is king, context is King Kong'. The same applies to tweeting, says SAASTA's Media Coordinator, Daryl Ilbury.
Sometime over the last weekend in May, and with little in the way of fanfare, SAASTA's Science Communications unit passed a celebratory milestone when it posted its 1000th tweet.

We say 'sometime', because the process is, to a certain degree, automated; but that doesn't mean it's not hands-on. In fact it's a highly disciplined process that requires a balance of mystery, provocation, insight, humour and the rigorous application of the protocols of responsible social media usage.

The science of tweeting

SAASTA's Media Coordinator, Daryl Ilbury, is responsible for maintaining the unit's Twitter account, and is somewhat protective towards his formula for growing the unit's Twitter profile: "There's a science to tweeting," he says, rather teasingly. Pushed to share more he explains that a lot of it has to do with balancing the expectations of SAASTA's rapidly growing follower base.

"They look to us to provide insight into what is happening in research, especially research that affects them; but they also want to be able to share - by retweeting - what they learn. That often means identifying science and technology stories that are fascinating and entertaining - so that their own followers will think, 'wow, I didn't know that'."

Each morning Ilbury dedicates up to an hour and a half scanning local and international news sites for science and technology-related stories. Choosing the stories is important - there has to be a balance across the myriad fields of science and technology, as well as in terms of the technical intensity of the stories. He also scans a number of research news feeds such as AlphaGalileo and EurekAlert!, again looking for stories that have that 'wow' factor. Using his experience as a science journalist he then traces the stories back to the original research papers and scrutinises them.

Content is king

The next part of the science of tweeting comes in the composing of the tweets. Daryl says the secret is to use language that teases to a story and then provide a click-through link to the story. There's a limit to what you can say in 140 characters or less, so the story provides context. That's important. In journalism they say 'content is king, context is King Kong'. Whenever possible, he always includes the Twitter handle of the source, "That's just good manners".

The final part of the process is the scheduling. Ilbury uses Hootsuite, a social media management system that allows him to schedule the tweets to be posted at key times in South Africa - around teatimes, lunch breaks and just before home time during weekdays - when there's a general spike in social media usage. If a story profiles South African research that he feels would interest an international audience, he will schedule it to be posted later in the day or early in the morning South African time.

"The added advantage," says Ilbury with an impish smile, "is that it looks as if I'm working after hours. So don't tell my boss!"