20 March 2017

Facebook Live for #scicomm

Posted by Shane Hanlon

By Shane M Hanlon

There are so many venues for science communication, especially when it comes to social media. For example, AGU alone has four official Twitter accounts (Sharing Science, AGU, Eos, Science Policy), an Instagram account, and a half-dozen Facebook pages. Social media is a powerful venue for communicating tips on communication. Twitter is an especially great place to learn about #scicomm resources and opportunities through hashtags like #scicomm, #scipol, #outreach, and #sciengage, just to name a few.

Social media can also be a great outlet to share experiences and information via video. Beyond YouTube, video services like Periscope and Facebook Live have popped up as venues to broadcast live events that can then be archived, similar to webinars.

I recently had the opportunity to use Periscope and Facebook Live to promote scicomm. The American Association for the Advancement of Science asked me to serve on a panel with other scientists who engage with scientists and non-scientists alike through scicomm. Check out the video for tips and tools from scicommers from various backgrounds!

Shane M Hanlon is an AGU Sharing Science Specialist