The Women in Science group at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging recently hosted a panel discussion highlighting the ways that scientists can use Twitter to connect with colleagues, collaborators and funders, share their science stories and find communities of their peers.

Here are some key takeaways from the discussion, titled How To Use Twitter to Advance Your Career and Make a Scientific Impact. There’s a link to the full video below.

Mike Morrison
Director of Media Relations
Massachusetts General Hospital
@MassGeneralNews

“Don’t worry about the size of your audience, worry about the quality.”

It’s better to engage with five to 10 really quality people who are going to impact your real life rather than the approval of a hundred others who may look at something, like it, and move on.”

“Be authentic, be yourself, be professional and try to get the most out of the experience by doing as much as you feel comfortable.”

“I think a lot of people feel like between those publications or bigger moments, there isn’t much to say or do on Twitter, but I think there are a lot of opportunities – showing people a bit about what it’s like to work in your group or on your project, talking about what you find cool.”

Angeline Dukes
Neuroscientist
Founder and President of Black in Neuro
@FutureDrDukes

“Twitter shouldn’t be a job. It shouldn’t be an extra thing you have to do. You should be doing it because you want to, because it’s a great way to connect with people.”

“You’re putting your thoughts out there and you’re getting positive feedback for the most part, or you’re getting critical feedback that can help change the way you think.”

“Don’t feel bad [if a post doesn’t receive a lot of engagement], don’t think your ideas are not worthy or something just because people don’t interact with it. It just might not be the time.”

“You want your bio to be interesting and you want it to quickly sum up your life. It shouldn’t be like a whole CV, nobody wants to see all that. But just the things you’re passionate about. Some [bios] are serious, some are funny, and you can always change them.”

Sarafina Nance
Astrophysics PhD Student, UC Berkeley
Women’s Health Advocate
Author, Starstruck (2023)
@starstrikenSF

“I’m not getting paid for the tweets that I put out. This is not a full-time job, this is something I am voluntarily doing.”

“I get to create my own boundaries of saying when I want to tweet, and what I want to tweet, and if it’s not comfortable for me or it doesn’t suit what I’m doing at the moment, I’m not going to do it.”

“How I communicate has been really empowering personally for me and cathartic and exciting because I’m seeing the impact it is having. This has translated into all sorts of opportunities in terms of show appearances and panel invitations.”

Daniel Quintana, PhD
Scientist, University of Oslo
Author of Twitter for Scientists
@dsquintana 

“You don’t necessarily have to have that final product of a published paper [to send out a tweet]. There are other things you can share in order to demonstrate, ‘Hey, this is my expertise, and these are the sorts of things that I’m interested in.’”

“I’ve seen plenty of PhD students who are saying some really interesting stuff on Twitter, on blog posts, and don’t necessarily have those official publications.”

“I just share what I’m doing. I think out loud. By doing that, I think it really helps to humanize scientists, which is great for other scientists, but also great for the public as well, who want to discover more about your science no matter what your research field is.”

“It’s exhausting not being yourself: Just be authentic and be yourself and tweet what you’re into, what you would normally tweet, because that’s what you can maintain in the long run. Because if you’re in academia, you should be in this for the long run because it’s a long road.”

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