Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty
Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty
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Roughly 46% have joined other social-media platforms, such as Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads and TikTok.
Huh?
With Bluesky, ultimately you’re still subject to Musk’s whims [see edit]. As for TikTok, all I can say is ”seriously?!?”
Edit: I was wrong about this. Sorry!
TikTok
What scientist would not want to promote their latest research while wearing a CGI-generated cat head and doing interpretative dance to a base heavy riff by a band autotuned to sound like robotic pre-pubescent Japanese girls?
VTuber/utaite Delutaya does actually really like space, so maybe she can...
BlueSky is completely separate from Twitter. And as for TikTok, a social media scientist's concerns aren't really for their own personal privacy or the integrity of the web, but for reaching the largest audience they can.
Love it or hate it, TikTok is one of the largest audiences out there, period.
While I know they’re separate companies, I had thought that Twitter posts could show up on BlueSky. Therefore, Musk could turn off compatibility at any time, which is where the “whims” bit came in.
Is that inaccurate? Am I remembering wrong? I’d appreciate any correction if I’m saying something that isn’t true.
Yeah that’s wrong, twitter posts don’t show up in Bluesky at all. Completely separate network
Okay. Whoops. Thanks!
I've seen a handful switching to Substack as well. I've been experimenting with that platform lately and I like the post editor, lots of tools but not overly bloated, it's pretty good. My only complaint so far has been that a lot of History/Academic Substacks seem to be pushing for the paid tier and so hide a lot of their posts behind a paywall Patreon style. Because of that Mastodon has been my favorite since the Twitter exodus.
wrt TikTok I assume the poll just asked what other platforms you are on, not if you are posting career related things on the platform. Most grad students are in their 20s and probably use TikTok for entertainment.
Okay. That’s a sensible explanation. Thanks!
I was wondering why the hell a researcher would use a video platform!
There are some really good scientists using TikTok to spread better science literacy, which is great. But obviously they aren't presenting high level academic research data, it's not suited to that at all.
When my partner shows me their feed on tiktok, we've run into quite a few folks trying to do community outreach through it. Can't say I'm a big fan of the app, but given how popular it is, I'm glad there are scientists who are trying to put out some decent information on it.