[View the story "Managing the social media deluge" on Storify ]Managing the social media deluge A Storify of the NASW #sciwri12 session on managing your social media information flow #sciwri12deluge Storified by Emily Willingham · Sat, Oct 27 2012 09:47:52
#sciwri12 session "Follow 1500 People on Twitter? Learn to Manage the Information Deluge" in Room 301A is using hashtag #sciwri12delugeJosh Witten
Our official live tweeter was Josh Witten.
All women on the panel discussing and moderating #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12 #girlpowerJodi Lynn Murphy
It didn't take long for audience to notice all-female makeup of the panel.
#sciwri12 #sciwri12deluge @ejwillingham introducing the panelists @lizabio @mkonnikova @raewing & @mcshanahanJosh Witten
RT @Jodilynnmurphy: All women on the panel discussing and moderating #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12 #girlpowerRTP
RT @robinlloyd99: RT @jamesian: What makes this panel rare at science conf? #sciwri12deluge http://pic.twitter.com/jNKdfYRBRTP
From left to right: Liz Gross (@lizabio), Maria Konnikova (@mkonnikova), Marie-Claire Shanahan (@mcshanahan), and Rachel Ewing (@raewing)
Will Twitter go the way of cb radio? #sciwri12deluge discussionSarah Webb
RT @scribbler_tom: "Twitter as a company may die, but tweeting as a form will live." So says @BoraZ #sciwri12deluge #SciWri12Courtni Kopietz
Twitter in some form or another is here to stay. It drives communication on Internet high-speed rail.
Getting twitter savvy at #sciwri12 #sciwri12deluge this must be how my mom feels when i explain FacebookJodi Lynn Murphy
And the question arose of, "What does it mean to curate a feed?" I always think of it in terms of a museum collection. How do you separate out repetitive or low-value contributions from those that will be informative, interesting, interactive? Josh explains for the reading audience:
#sciwri12 #sciwri12deluge @ejwillingham "Who curates their twitter feed?" Hey, look, there are two of us.Josh Witten
@bobfinn #sciwri12deluge I think they mean curation as anything you do to sort through the information - can take many formsJosh Witten
@bobfinn #sciwri12deluge I think almost everyone "curates" - not everyone does so with forethought and/or maliceJosh Witten
So the overall solution if you're not into curating for yourself is to find people who do it well. On the wiki we created for this session and as an evergreen resource, you can find a
growing list of curators from which to choose those who might fit your needs. Please feel free to sign into the wiki and make your own contributions to this page or any of the others. If you've already signed into Wikispaces to contribute to the ScienceOnline wiki, the same sign-in should work.
RT @BoraZ: #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12 @mkonnikova follow people who are good curators, retweeters. Tweetdeck is the essential tool.Wendee Nicole
RT @scribbler_tom: Lists of great science tweet curators & best practices/resources at http://scicommsocialmedia.wikispaces.com #sciwri12deluge #SciWri12Sandeep Pingle
The session yielded good tips and ideas for different contexts and needs. We talked about lists--creating, following, being a part of them:
RT @BrookeLayne: I didn't know you could list someone without following them. Interesting. #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12Tom Ulrich
RT @robinlloyd99: at #sciwri12deluge panel: @raewing favors twitter lists, Flipboard to catch up on cool stuff, & tools with social cues #sciwri12Scott Merville
@BrookeLayne you can also subscribe to others' public lists. #sciwri12delugePete
Rachel Ewing talked about using
Flipboard , "your social magazine," as a management tool:
"any tool that gives you a social cue about what's worth reading" blurbs, pictures,etc http://flipboard.com - @raewing #sciwri12delugeAatish Bhatia
Other platforms for management include
Twitterific ,
Tweetdeck (for Web or desktop, and opinions vary about both), and
Hootsuite (which we didn't get into in the session, but which I use and would be happy to help people with figuring out).
RT @bobfinn: .@boraz likes twitterific for the iphone, tweetdeck elsewhere. #sciwri12delugeNC Sea Grant
@BoraZ recommends Twitterrific for the iPhone http://twitterrific.com/ #sciwri12delugeJosh Witten
RT @BoraZ: #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12 @lizabio also Tweetdeck breaks stuff up into groups of people, eg. Scientists, writers, etc.Kelly Burnes
Pluses for TweetDeck: edit RTs before posting, schedule tweets. #sciwri12deluge #SciWri12Tom Ulrich
Another management tool that popped up is
Faavorite .
.@lizabio: "I just want to get information" Follow curators. Thematic lists. Use favorites, organize w/ http://faavorite.com #sciwri12delugeAatish Bhatia
At the beginning of the session, I asked the audience how many considered themselves to be beginning Twitter uses. To my surprise, many, many hands went up. In the interests of providing basics and talking about managing multiple accounts, we had a conversation about how to avoid accidentally tweeting personal tweets from professional accounts and how to engage as a human being through a professional account. The bottom line: There's a reason it's called "social" media instead of "PR media" or "Marketing Media." Engagement on the human level is key.
How to not mix up personal & work tweets? Have the personal as the primary acct on TweetDeck. @raewing #sciwri12delugeTom Ulrich
My tip for not cross-posting PIO and personal is different platforms: Hootsuite for one and Tweetdeck for another. #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12Becky Oskin
From the audience: or use separate browsers for each. #sciwri12delugeTom Ulrich
HootSuite has a nice "are you sure" feature for any handle you want to set it for. Nice way to avoid bad crosswords. #sciwri12delugePete
At last year's conference, I attended a great session about time management and social media that Cristine Russell (@russellcris) moderated. The question naturally arose in this year's session of how to manage both time and the information flow, and in the interests of full disclosure, I cited the take-homes from last year's session, which included panelists Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman), Deborah Blum (@deborahblum), and Bora (@BoraZ), with some memorable input from Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) about the "dopamine ping" that is Twitter. Apologies for panelists I left out.
Question from the floor about time management & tweeting. Thank god. #sciwri12delugeTom Ulrich
RT @scribbler_tom: Answer from @ejwillingham: block out your time and limit when you tweet. #sciwri12delugenature.com Boston
#sciwri12deluge @ejwillingham likes scheduling tweets for avoiding accidentally breaking embargoesJosh Witten
#sciwri12deluge Tip from audience: scheduling can be used to pace your posting so you don't overwhelm followersJosh Witten
#sciwri12deluge @BoraZ is nervous about scheduling tweets. Things can change fast.Josh Witten
Scheduling tweets via Tweetdeck or Hootsuite can have its uses, including helping with time management, but Bora has a warning, too: Sometimes, you can schedule something cute and perky, and then something horrific happens, and your cute and perky pops up with apparent heartlessness in the midst of a tragedy.
The quest for the perfect hashtag #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12Jamie DePolo
We had a good discussion about what makes a good hashtag. In general, brief, pronounceable, illustrative, memorable--all in only a few letters! That's all -- so easy (ha). A word of caution, though:
@sciwri12 Hashtags are great but check out first. #cancer is dominated by astrology posts. #sciwri12delugeScott Merville
Is there a way to search for hashtags? #sciwri12delugeEliz Witherspoon
You can type the hashtag into the search box of most interfaces, and it will turn up the thread of people using that hashtag. You also can click on any hashtag you see and go straight to that thread, where you can select from top tweets with that tag, all tweets with it, or tweets only from people you follow who have used it.
Does this session meet the "keep hashtags short and understandable" test? #sciwri12deluge #SciWri12Tom Ulrich
No, it didn't, but we wanted to reflect the conference hashtag, which was already #sciwri12 and the session theme, which was deluge. If this hadn't been specific to this conference, etc., a hashtag like #scicommflood might have worked.
RT @joshwitten: #sciwri12deluge Keep hashtags short (unlike this one), sensible, and pronounceable. Same for twitter handle.Sara MacSorley
#sciwri12deluge @lizabio hashtags are a good way to build and track audience.Josh Witten
We then talked some more about the various uses of hashtags for different goals:
PIO tip - Listen, watch, see where people are talking about topic - then choose tag for your new story to blend into that #sciwri12delugeSally James
#sciwri12deluge Q - advice on promoting a hashtag? A - @mcshanahan likes specific hashtags, seem to grow organically?Josh Witten
Encouraging to know that original hashtags can be useful for promoting big stories #sciwri12delugeLauren Rugani
Then tweeted question about hashtags that didn't get answered in the session:
#sciwri12deluge Do scientists, as well as science writers, follow hashed topics on Twitter?David Quammen
From my experience, scientists who are on twitter follow and use hashtags, but of course, they need to be on Twitter.
RT @joshwitten: #sciwri12deluge Q from @tinkerrr - how can we use social media to improve situation for womenTinker Ready
Obviously, as a panel consisted only of women, we felt we were in a good position to answer. So Bora kicked off the response:
RT @BoraZ: #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12 twitter as tool for women to connect, use hashtags like #trollerderbyKelly
Would like more info on how to use #trollerderby hashtag. #sciwri12delugeBob Finn
This hashtag is helpful in cases when a woman blogger is being trolled in comments primarily only because she's a woman, usually because she's writing about something involving feminism, equal rights, workplace equality ... you know, things about being a human being with rights. If she feels reinforcements are warranted, she or an ally can tweet with the #trollerderby hashtag and gain some comment support.
RT @jbhathaw: Great solution to trolls RT @BoraZ: #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12 twitter as tool for women to connect, use hashtags like #trollerderbyTom Ulrich
Another hashtag, #sciencmob (and its friend #pathogenposse) serves as a way to rally responses to comments that present inaccurate or misleading information about science.
RT @smerv: Also #sciencemob RT @joshwitten #sciwri12deluge @BoraZ recommends #trollerderby for getting allies to vanquish internet trolls.James Hathaway
Before the session and during it, we had questions about engagement--the core requirement of successful social media interactions. The them that emerged again and again was one of being a person, not just a promoter, and doing unto others as you'd like done unto you, Twitter-wise. That means RTing great reads, preferably with a personalize comment, @ing or ccing people who might be interested in a read, having a conversation that's doable in 140 character bites (not all conversations are). Be a person. Some more tips below and
also on the wiki .
#sciwri12deluge Q - Should a PIO tweet only their stories? A: @mkonnikova @lizabio @raewing - No, make it interesting, personal & engageJosh Witten
@scribbler_tom @mkonnikova any good ways/practices to manage those conversations? #sciwri12delugeBruno Sokic
Great advice, @mkonnikova : tweet about others' work and find / use their handle #sciwri12deluge #sciwri12Tori Indivero
"Don't be stingy about your retweets" getting twitter tips at #sciwri12 #sciwri12delugeJulianne Wyrick
And we did some demos, focusing mostly on Tweetdeck with a little Storify and discussion of lists thrown in. We've got demos for these platforms and for Twitter itself linked at the wiki so that you can peruse them at your leisure. Please feel free to add your own or tips you have for making management of the information deluge a little easier.
Demo of Storify as tool for story telling via Twitter, and then sharing that story on Twitter. Again with the meta. #sciwri12delugeTom Ulrich
RT @joshwitten: #sciwri12deluge @BoraZ - Storify best used as scaffold for story telling w/ other media/content - @maggiekb1 as example of doing it rightNC Sea Grant
As described above, this Storify is an example of mixing text, outside links, and tweets, all done using
Storify.com , all based on a simple search in the Twitter platform through Storify on the hashtag #sciwri12deluge. I placed the tweets in an order that seemed to make sense to tell a story and group ideas and then added in the text and links.
Realizing that I really need to learn how to use Storify #sciwri12deluge. Really powerful.Sarah Webb
Can't wait to see the post-conference Storify on this session! Many thanks to the panelists! #sciwri12deluge #SciWri12Tom Ulrich
And finally, if the session, Tweets, and Storify don't give you the information you need, one more reminder about the wiki. Thanks for attending, reading, and contributing, and please feel free to tweet any questions!
RT @SMacSorley: Want more of the deluge #sciwri12deluge, #sciwri12, check out the wiki - http://scicommsocialmedia.wikispaces.comnature.com Boston
