Is social media for scientists? Yes!

Welcome again! As I mentioned in the first post of this blog, scientists have the obligation to spread our work and knowledge: science and scientific progress must be visible to society as a whole. To achieve this, scientists have access to a myriad of applications and social networks, which can be broadly divided into two groups: social networks that allow us to connect with other scientists, and social networks that allow us to disseminate our knowledge to a broader population. Among the social networks that facilitate connections, we find perhaps the most famous of all, LinkedIn, used not only by scientists but also by professionals from all fields. Alongside this social network, but less known outside the scientific world, but, in my opinion, even more important, we find ResearchGate. On this social network, we can find papers (or request them), get to know and connect with scientists, and above all, ask and answer questions to help us, as a scientific community, continue building knowledge. This website, along with many others where questions are posted and answered, has been very helpful to me during my research these years. Bewteen the social networks that allow us to divulge our research to society, YouTube comes first. There are many science-related YouTube channels where people from all backgrounds and of all ages can learn. In addition to YouTube, we have social networks like Twitter and (maybe de most popular nowadays) TikTok. These two social networks are used to publish all kinds of content, but it is important to remark that rigorous and accurate scientific content is also shared. And, of course, there's Blogger. I have read hundreds of posts on scientific blogs, not only to learn but also to help me with assignments or to understand lectures, so thank you so much to all these bloggers, youtubers and scientists because, sometimes, the amount of hard work they put in creating this content goes unrecognized. We have pointed out many social networks that coupled with other search applications or file-sharing tools, allow scientists to share and learn. As scientists, it is mandatory to keep a well-organized enviroment as Symbaloo helps us to create and mantain. Here I attachad a capture of my Personal Learning Enviroment (PLE) as an example for you to see!

The right to privacy is fundamental and must be taken into account. However, at the same time, researchers must be able to take advantage of the social networks currently used not just for their own benefit, but for the benefit of society itself as, unfortunately, these media are known for creating and disseminating fake news. Therefore, if you are a scientist, please, contribute with your work to divulge reliable science that can shed light on the complex problems society faces. Let's not refrain from using these exceptional tools that so many people learn from just because of puritanism. Instead, let's learn to use them properly: is vital for our digital society. Kind regards, Nuria Aguilar