An Online Scientific Twitter World: Social Network Analysis of #ScienceTwitter, #SciComm, and #AcademicTwitter

Abstract

Understanding who makes up online affinity spaces as well as how information flows within those spaces is important as more people access news, research topics, collaborate with others, and entertain themselves. During a month-long period in summer 2021, we collected 100,000 tweets from 53,311 Twitter users who used the hashtags #ScienceTwitter, #SciComm, and #AcademicTwitter. We then classified users and determined the type of social network they formed. Scientists, the public, and educators formed this affinity space. They built connections by initiating activities and interacting with others, which created a Community Clusters social network structure, characterized by several medium-sized groups of closely connected users and a fair number of isolates. All three categories of people were in positions of influence in this network leading and controlling the conversations. The results show that scientists, the public, and educators share the space and contribute to communication in this online world. This research is important as it illustrates that online affinity spaces about scientific topics are not solely spaces for scientists to communicate but rather act as spaces where people with varied expertise can exchange ideas and learn from one another.