Almost all scientific publications and associations, most research centers, universities and many researchers use Twitter for their professional work. What will happen if Musk charges to use it?
Many of us have incorporated social networking into our daily routine to obtain information. In addition to their immediacy, they have the advantage that they have not involved any costs until now. And that makes them the favorite choice of many young people. As a college student once said to me, “Email is for older people.”
Twitter is one of the most popular social networks, with hundreds of millions of users around the world.
Because you can quickly share short messages, add images, videos and links to other Internet sites, it is one of the most professional channels for scientific communication when used correctly. Currently, almost all publications and scientific associations, most research centers, universities and many researchers use Twitter for their professional work.
During the covid-19 pandemic, Twitter showed its potential. Partly because it facilitated the dialogue between the research world and the more traditional media.
That dialogue was key, because in a matter of months there were tens of thousands of scientific articles on the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Covid-19 disease. There were more articles about the new coronavirus than about malaria, for example. Among all this immense jumble of information, it was difficult to distinguish between errors, misinterpretations, preliminary truths and quality science (the solution to the pandemic). Therefore, many science journalists have informed and communicated with scientists from all over the world.
We are tribes on Twitter and if we choose the accounts we follow closely, it can become an excellent source of information. For example, if we followed Tulio de Oliveira (@tuliodna), director of the Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform in South Africa in the worst moments of the pandemic, we could find out in real time about the emergence of the omicron variant and first-hand, long before the news hit the media.
Regardless of the veracity, news on Twitter has a worldwide and immediate distribution. In fact, parallel to the pandemic, a large number of hoaxes and lies were spread, mainly through social networks.
This phenomenon reached such a magnitude that the WHO described it as a “mass infodemic,” the “other pandemic” of disinformation. He also warned of its dangers, especially since it prevented the public from accessing reliable information about the disease. Many of these hoaxes were related to science and health issues.
It is true that during the pandemic, social networks have played a nefarious role in the transmission of hoaxes and lies, even leading to deaths. But it has also been shown that it is essential for the fight against pseudoscience that scientists themselves use social networks to communicate science outside academia. Their presence on social networks influences public opinion and in many cases has been a reliable source of information in a crisis situation like the one we have experienced. For a researcher, “being” on social networks, especially on Twitter, is no longer a waste of time.
Elon Musk bought Twitter, he is definitely the new owner. As soon as he arrived, he fired key managers and dissolved the board of directors. And he has also stated that he is willing to charge verified profiles.
We still don’t know how this story will end. Twitter, well used, is an excellent professional tool. It would be a shame if it were no longer useful for the communication and popularization of science. Let’s not forget that a more informed society is a freer society, harder to manipulate and more democratic.
This article was published in ‘The conversation‘.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
