Engaging citizens in research and
innovation
Opportunities and challenges afforded
by social media
John Breslin, NUI Galway

Me
• Lecturer in electronics
• Researcher at DERI
• Founder of boards.ie
• Mad scientist engineer

research
innovation media
society European role science
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designed providers spongebob squarepants can you really read this small writing?
Word cloud generated from http://eisri-
summit.eu/background-paper/

From word of mouth…

…to word of tweet

Citizens:
Can we please
have your
attention for this
important
scientific No, I’m too busy reading my
announcement? Facebook
Haha, I get it, he’s a banana, and he’s saying it’s “apeeling”

The paradox of the Web*
You now have a megaphone
(Just like everyone else)
* Bernardo Huberman, HP Social Labs

No longer a race to be first, but a
battle to get the most attention

Be. Interesting.
Easier said than done, eh?

“A new solid-state propulsion system
has been devised using the sigma…”
“Get me out of here”

Rockets! Space! Action!

Don’t want to dumb down the
message, just make it relevant

Getting attention for the scientific
message
• Have you tried asking questions of the public,
rather than regurgitating article titles?
– Without using a question that may bias the
response
– Provoking but not being rhetorical
• Pique the interest of @influencers
– Get them to tell their fans / followers / friends
• Target #topics

“How well was science taught in your high school?”
#scienceweek @wiredscience @nytimesscience

Who can best spread your message to the public?
IDENTIFY HUBS AND INFLUENCERS

“Is it me or is he looking a little washed out?”
“Doctor Jim is so cool”

Anecdote: tweeting out slides from
a talk I gave earlier this year
• Put slides on SlideShare*
• I had referenced various funding institutions,
non-profit organisations, etc. in my slides:
– And made sure to tell them about it on Twitter!
• 500 views in a few hours
• 3000 views after a week
* http://slidesha.re/europreneurs

For events or topical stories
TARGET KEYWORDS, #HASHTAGS

#hashtags for big scientific events

And explain what the #hashtag is
periodically…
…for those not in the know…
#sciencemedia is for EISRI BTW!

Sometimes, it’s good to be personal
BE A FACE, NOT A LOGO

But don’t go too far!
“I actually came for
the climate change
discussion, but all I
got was someone on
about their lousy
barbeque”

Automate your message for
sending out at peak times

But make sure the right message
goes out…
• From: Quora Weekly Digest <digest-
noreply@quora.com>
• To: john.breslin@nuigalway.ie
• Subject: What is it like to have your mother
die? - Quora
• Message-ID:
<1361359522.0682987696506104@mf101>
• Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2013 05:25:22 -0600 (CST)

USE EXAMPLES TO SHOW WHY
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IS
MONEY WELL SPENT

@johnbreslin or john@bresl.in