By Taryn Bradley | Taryn is a science communicator with a passion for making science accessible. During her time at CSU, she’s worked at both ends of the
scientific spectrum – from the tangible, applied science that mechanical engineering offers, to the foundational, sometimes “unseeable” discoveries of the natural sciences. She enjoys amplifying the cutting-edge scientific discoveries that empower others to make more informed decisions in their day-to-day life.
Science is all around us. It’s what makes up the medication you take when you’re sick, helps us fight climate change and makes your cellphone and TV work so you can doomscroll or binge-watch the new season of Stranger Things. However, the ubiquity of science makes it unnoticeable – our phones work, so we don’t question why or how it works. This can make things a little difficult when your job is to share cool developments in science with the world on social media.
For the last four years, I’ve worked in various roles at CSU, communicating about the groundbreaking scientific research coming out of our R1 university. Currently, I work in the College of Natural Sciences at CSU, which is made up of eight departments: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, and Statistics. While some of the research areas these departments study lend well to the flashy and fun side of social media, others do not (neutrinos and molecules, anyone?)
Communicating the unseeable on highly visible platforms can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Below are some of the tips I’ve come up with as a science communicator.
Consider your audience, consider your channels
As with any type of communication, it’s crucial to consider your audience and the channels you’re trying to reach them on.
While *I* think the breakthrough discoveries our faculty and students are making every day are super cool and interesting, that’s not always the case in terms of engagement with our content. In my experience, I’ve had better luck communicating about scientific research and new publications on LinkedIn, while Instagram typically does better solely with student-centered content, which aligns with the nature and purpose of the platforms, as well as the followers we have on each channel.
But every channel and page is different, and in the spirit of science and experimentation, play around and see what content performs better on your channels with your unique following.
Emphasize the practical application (or an eventual one)
People tend to care about things more when they know how it affects them. What can make communicating foundational sciences difficult, though, is sometimes the topics researchers are exploring now don’t always have an immediate application – it might be 10, 20 or even 50 years before the science is applied.
A physics faculty member explained it to me like this: Albert Einstein discovered his Theory of Relativity in the early 1900s – at the time, he had no idea that his discovery of the relationship between time, space, mass and energy would later lead to the development of the Global Positioning System, or GPS, in the late 1970s. Science is cool in that regard, but it can make communicating its importance and relevance with the general public difficult.
While not all science and research may have an immediate application, some researchers may have thoughts and ideas of where the research might be able to slot in, so ask them to dream big! Where do they see this one day being applied? For example, in this article I wrote on protein catch-bonds, the research doesn’t immediately have a direct application, but many processes rely on catch-bonds – from cancer treatment to the degrading of plastic.
I included this information in our caption to pique interest and establish relevance to our audience from the get-go. This brings me to my next point of…
Keep captions simple
When posting research on a platform like LinkedIn, it may seem like a reason to talk about science at a high-level, but as science communicators, our goal is to break down science so that it’s accessible to a broad audience. In the case of the College of Natural Sciences’ social media, we’re sharing information with a variety of scientists – from biochemists and psychologists to computer scientists and physicists. Each will have a different scientific background and understanding. Science can also be incredibly niche, so even two scientists in the same field might vary in their understanding of technical jargon from one subject to the next.
Because of this, a good rule of thumb is to discuss science at an 8th grade level. If you don’t think an 8th grader would understand what you’ve written, work to simplify the information and eliminate any unnecessary technical jargon.
Lastly, avoid getting in the weeds by keeping your captions simple – you don’t need to give the whole article or research away in your post. Think about social media as having a little taste of what people can learn. A good “template” to think about is:
- Creative hook of some sort (maybe add a couple emojis to add a little visual interest)
- Broad statement of what the research is about, adding a little statement about the practical application.
- A link to where people can get more information.
Try out trends and shareable content
Lastly, just because you’re talking about science doesn’t mean your content can’t be engaging and fun. Try and put your own twist on popular trends circulating on Instagram and TikTok (my colleague Brooke Garcia recently wrote a whole blog post about this!).
Here’s an example we did for National Pi Day (3.14):
View this post on Instagram
And another we did promoting an open house event at the Charles Maurer Herbarium:
View this post on Instagram
As a science communicator, you also have a great opportunity to share information that could help people – think about it as sharing “news you can use” with your followers. Are there any areas you feel your organization’s research could improve people’s lives by providing them with information that can empower them to make more informed decisions?
As Ashley Schroeder recently wrote a blog post on the importance of “silent” engagement, i.e., sharing your content with friends/other followers through DMs or bookmarking your content to view again later is actually super meaningful and may introduce your organization and content to new potential followers.