A first-of-its-kind study published in the international journal PLOS One reveals how scientists use Twitter to communicate and the results are, well, surprising.

The study is the first to survey scientists on their attitudes towards social media and show how they use digital channels to communicate their research with their peers and the general public.

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The survey involved 587 scientists from a range of academic disciplines and was conducted by a team led by Kimberley Collins, Dr. Jenny Rock of New Zealand's University of Otago and David Shiffman of the University of Miami.

The survey found scientists have yet to widely adopt social media. But the ones that do see many possible advantages to using social media in the workplace.

"Most scientists saw the benefit in using Twitter -- they said it was a good way to access a large and diverse audience. They also appreciate the ease of communicating in snippets, how little time it takes, and how accessible it is." said Collins, who undertook the research for her Master of Science Communication thesis at Otago.

The study also found scientists mostly use Twitter to communicate with colleagues and share peer-reviewed literature within the scholarly community.

"Many scientists said they use Twitter to communicate specifically with other scientists. Some used it as a forum to share their research directly with the public and media, but most saw it as a tool to share research within their field and to stay updated with science outreach and communication," according to Collins.

But relatively few academic scientists currently use social media tools despite the professional benefits associated with social media use.

Misunderstandings of the disadvantages of social media use might contribute to its relatively limited use among scientists. This might be corrected by professional development training workshops or clearer departmental social media usage policies.

The results of this study add to our general understanding of the use of social media by academic scientists and act as a baseline on which to assess future trends in social media use within the science academy, said Collins.

Tagssocial media, Twitter, Scientists, Kimberley Collins