A Social Media Strategy for Scientific Research or Policy Impact

I encounter a lot of social media skeptics who ask me pointed questions.   I can answer most, but sometimes I get hit with a question that I can't answer (adequately) on the spot.  I love those questions - they are a real gift.    

Recently, I've been getting a question like that goes something like this, "All this social media stuff is great if you're fund raising or selling something or running a grassroots advocacy campaign, but what if you're focusing on carefully vetted scientific research or want to impact policy?  What if your goal is large scale systemic change, why bother with social media?"

A few weeks back I met Melinda Venable, Associate Director Digital and Ethnic Media at Resource Media who told me about the ClimateChangeUS Twitter strategy.    

The Twitter account was started with a focused goal of raising awareness about the release of the Global Climate Impacts in the United States report last June. A few weeks after the release, they decided to broaden it's goal to sharing the latest peer-reviewed climate science that highlights immediate, near-term threats from human-caused warming. The goal is to be a trust agent for climate change scientific information.

They are building a following of journalists and others who are looking for carefully vetted scientific information.  What's interesting about this Twitter account is that it isn't an automatic feed that streams links to their own reports.   They share the latest, and best peer-reviewed science through Twitter conversations.

They also tweet about real-time impacts, which usually is extreme weather and how that fits within the pattern of global warming.  They rely only on credible sources.  They do offer our opinions or promote any one policy or get into politics. 

They are using Twitter and a Facebook Fan Page to grow an audience interested in carefully vetted research.  They've become a trusted resource for educators, journalists, and others.  I'd like to know more about the specific results and how they are measuring the success of their social media strategy - as well as what they are tracking to improve what they are doing.

The use of social media is part of a larger strategy to inform the public about the impacts of climate change, not just at the North Pole, but in their backyards. They are co-producing video spots, which air on television and on the Web. They also engage directly with weather casters, a group uniquely positioned to inform the general public,  by instructing them about how to incorporate the science of climate change into their daily broadcasts.

In early 2009,  the Compete Blog posted its media trends for 2008, suggesting that publisher media continue to integrate social media.  

Source: Compete Media Trends for 2008 

Do you have an example of how Twitter can be used to distributed "trusted" information about an important policy issue?

Comments

[Marc van Bree]

Beth, thank you for bringing this sector to the light! I've been wondering about the very same questions ever since I started my new job at a research center. This is a great start and an interesting case.

Just last week, I participate in a Chronicle of Philanthropy live chat about dissemination of research. You can find the transcript here: http://philanthropy.com/live/2009/10/nonprofit_research/

Also, one of my co-panelists, Gabi, is the co-founder of IssueLab, where you can find tons and tons of free research. It's a great resource. They also do web seminars on dissemination and actively reach out to people who need help in that area. Find them at http://www.issuelab.org

Hope you'll write more about this as you learn more! I'll be on the look out!

[Lawn Care Business Marketing]

Beth, great insight into how this particular group is taking advantage of social media. I work with a great many offline businesses that are pretty hesitent about social media and whether or not it can be effective, but this shows a fantastic use of this new media.

Thanks for sharing this!

[Danielle Brigida]

Thanks for posting this Beth! Kristin J. passed it around to our team :)

[Luise Barnikel]

Thanks a lot for bringing attention to this, Beth. I think Marc hits an important point here: For every organization that has become a "thought leader" and "trust agent" for information on its issue, there are countless nonprofits (mostly small- and medium-sized) who would like to engage in the same space, but simply don't have the capacity, time or know-how to do it. Besides the interest in contributing their work to our online archive, we see that nonprofits want to learn how to take a more active role in their own research dissemination.

What's interesting is that many of these organizations already have social media presences (they join our Policy Researchers LinkedIn group, engage on twitter, attend webinars on the topic, find others on facebook), but just aren't sure how to weave in their research agenda and push it to the right audiences online.

Your case study has some great tips for how to engage, even if some organizations just have the time to do a couple of those things. Besides Marc's link, I think your readers would be interested in IssueLab's webinar presentations, all available at http://www.slideshare.net/issuelab They all focus squarely on online dissemination and different facets that make it difficult for smaller nonprofits to reach a broad audience with their research.

Thanks again for this post - it brings attention to what we see is one of the most critical needs in the sector: knowledge mobilization!