Using Twitter to Extend Your Department’s Outreach and Visibility

Abstract

Social media platforms like Twitter offer benefits for promoting and sharing scientific research. Each user becomes an instant news source for their work, and are able to report lab updates, news, and discoveries in near real time, increasing the visibility and citations of one's research and allowing for direct and public engagement with the scientific community. Additionally, such outreach has the possibility of strengthening collaboration and engagement within one's academic department. However, amidst the noise of a billion profiles, how can you be heard and measure your impact? The North Carolina State University Department of Chemistry has adopted an amplification method that relies on promoting departmental news through collaboration between faculty (@NCStateChem) and student organization (@NCStateChemGSA) run accounts, which are then amplified through research lab or personal community member profiles. Because of this strategy , our Twitter account has a following that extends beyond our own students and faculty. In fact, nearly three quarters of our Twitter follower base consists of accounts not affiliated with NC State. Here we share insights into one of our social media strategies for Twitter (#ChemPack) and provide an overview of our in-house amplification network monitoring impressions and engagement rate as a metric to assess our impact.