#Science: How Scientists on Twitter & TikTok are Changing the Game

By: Eleanor Lin (CC '24)

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On November 20, the Columbia Science Review hosted a panel discussion featuring three prominent science communicators: Dr. Esther Choo, Tyus Williams, and Dr. Rose Marie Leslie. Panelists fielded questions on how they are harnessing the social media platforms Twitter and TikTok to shape the dissemination and discussion of science. The panel was co-moderated by CSR OCM's Savvy Vaughan-Wasser (CC '22) and Everett McArthur (CC '23).

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Panelists

Tyus D. Williams is a wildlife ecologist. He received his bachelor's degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences from the University of Georgia. He currently works as a field ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, with research interests including carnivore ecology. Through his Twitter account, @sciencewithtyus, and #SciQFriday, Williams communicates scientific content relevant to his own research expertise and interviews scientists from a diverse range of fields, engaging with an audience of 19,700 followers.

Esther Choo, MD, MPH is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Public Health at Oregon Health & Science University and a practicing emergency medicine physician. She is a cofounder of Equity Quotient, a board member at TIME'S UP, a columnist on healthcare inequity for the Lancet, a medical analyst for CNN, and a cofounder of Get Us PPE. She engages with 177,000 followers through her Twitter account, @choo_ek.

Rose Marie Leslie, MD is completing her residency in Family Medicine at the University of Minnesota. In the past she has worked as a youth health educator. Her focuses include reproductive health, health education, and social justice. On TikTok, she is known to her 840,000 followers as the health influencer @drleslie, helping to spread accurate scientific information and combat misinformation.

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Co-Moderators

Savvy Vaughan-Wasser is a junior in Columbia College ('22) majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior. Her love of animals and psychiatry is guiding her to become a doctor, with a possible intersection between animal and human medicine. Savvy has experience in a research lab studying cancer, as part of a research team geared towards fostering resilience and inclusivity for non-binary students in all-girls schools, and volunteering at animal hospitals. She enjoys archery, dancing, and anything chocolate.
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Everett D. McArthur is a sophomore in Columbia College ('23) planning to major in astrophysics. Currently, he’s involved in galactic dynamics research. In his free time he does public lectures in his hometown. He hopes that his efforts will increase scientific understanding in his community, as well as increase diversity in science. He enjoys long hikes, art, and playing the piano.

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The panelists first fielded questions from the co-moderators:
Q: How did you get started in science communication?
Williams said, "I always loved talking about science, from the earliest days of my youth." He named biologist and wildlife conservationist Jeff Corwin as a key influence. The emergence of Twitter and Instagram, contemporary with his generation's coming-of-age, was another important factor in Williams's development as a science communicator.

Leslie's first role as a science communicator was as a peer health educator in high school. She noted the continuity between her past experiences as a health educator and her current training to become a doctor, which involves being able to convey information to patients in an accessible manner. 
  
Choo was a latecomer to social media. She recalled being an "extreme introvert" who used to shun public speaking. Choo first became active on Twitter at the urging of a friend (none other than former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy). Reflecting on past skepticism from peers who thought social media might be "a waste of time," Choo reflected that sharing academic publications via platforms such as Twitter is now becoming normalized, and that Twitter is an effective way to reach a broad audience in need of accurate information.


Q: How do you use your specific social media platform to convey your message to viewers?
Leslie said that one advantage of TikTok was the ability to easily integrate sound, music, text, video, and screenshots into posts: "You can create interesting, multimedia health education tips in 30 seconds." However, she stressed the importance of balancing the need to create engaging, interesting content against the need to base that content on scientific evidence from primary sources. Leslie said that she makes sure to highlight these sources in her posts.

Williams stressed the importance of being authentic and "meeting people on the same level" for effective scientific communication. He explained that he tries to build trust by being "as transparent as I can possibly be" and interacting one-on-one with his Twitter followers when they have questions or comments. In addition to Jeff Corwin, Williams pointed to David Attenborough and Jim Carrey as inspiration for how to inject his own personal character into his communication, including through humor.

Choo echoed the importance of authenticity and said that pre-COVID, she used Twitter as an outlet to discuss academic work in a more relaxed atmosphere. However, during the pandemic, Choo has experienced more stress while trying to coordinate with other health influencers to spread accurate information about complicated topics, such as vaccine trials: "Those are dry conversations, and yet we need broad uptake." 

While regretful of some missteps, such as flip-flopping guidance on face masks early on, Choo also noted that a lack of understanding of the scientific process—which requires recognizing and correcting mistakes—worsens the relationship between scientists and the public. Williams agreed with Choo that while changing opinions based on the emergence of new evidence is foundational to the scientific process, it is often negatively perceived by the public. Leslie had also posted about mask-wearing on TikTok using CDC guidelines, which had at first urged people to reserve masks for health care workers. When she reposted using the updated guidelines for universal mask wearing, she experienced a wave of negative comments. "I understand how frustrating it must be when recommendations change . . . or when scientists get it wrong," she said. Leslie used the experience as a teachable moment, subsequently making more content about how the scientific process works and how people can identify valid sources of information. 


Q: How can college students become better science communicators?
 Choo recommended that students find organizations and people they admire, then treat these as role models for their own communication. While students should aim to make posts accessible (Choo cautioned against posting screenshots of dense blocks of text), they should "always [be] going back to the science" by including links to primary sources. That way, Choo explained, the audience can read more and recapture some of the nuance which is lost in short-form tweets. Finally, Choo encouraged students to reflect on how becoming a prominent communicator might affect their professional and personal lives, disclosing that she and her family have received threats and been doxxed in reaction to her posts on controversial topics.

Williams concurred with Choo's words of caution, saying, "You are carrying everything that is representable about yourself in a way to be potentially scrutinized or applauded by people you don't know." He emphasized that communicators can prevent backlash by sticking to topics inside their area of expertise, but also said that students should be prepared for the fact that "even when you do get it right, people still come after you." Williams noted that his identity as "a Black man in science" and a 25-year-old has implications for how he presents himself and how people react to him. For example, some people have used his age as a basis to question his expertise. Williams concluded, "You have to be confident in yourself . . . But also protect yourself."

Leslie agreed with Choo and Williams that scientific communicators should be prepared to protect themselves from toxicity, including by differentiating between genuine scientific discussion and engaging with trolls ("Don't feed them"). Leslie re-emphasized that "being yourself is really important, especially if you're speaking to non-scientific audiences." Before posting, Leslie asks herself, "Am I creating this post with intention?" and "Would I be okay with one of my patients seeing this?"


Next, the co-moderators opened the floor to audience questions:
Q: How do you deal with social media fatigue? Has there ever been a point where you needed to take a step back?
Williams said that the key to preventing fatigue is to "listen to your body" and remember that the preservation of one's own health is a right. He shared that in the past year, he has been deeply affected by social upheaval in the United States, especially surrounding the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

Choo said that she structures her days so that she can spend time with her family and without the distraction of social media. Choo's philosophy is that social media should reflect one's larger life, rather than become one's entire life, and that fostering a healthy life outside of social media will naturally enhance one's ability to create good content.

Leslie admitted, "I am still trying to figure out how to manage everything I have going on" and that an important question to ask is, "Am I doing this for someone else? Or am I doing it for me?" The key indicator of fatigue for her is whether she is enjoying engagement with her audience, or whether it is starting to feel "like a job."


Q: How many times do you review a post before you send it out into the internet, knowing that every word will reach so many people?
Choo characterized her posts as "extremely spontaneous," because she sticks to posting about topics within her area of expertise, and therefore within her comfort zone. She estimated that she spends only "10 or 15 minutes" on social media each day.

Leslie agreed with Choo's distinction between posts within and outside of one's expertise, saying, "Make sure that you know your stuff before you post it."

Choo then initiated a discussion of panelists' favorite posts. Leslie chose a TikTok in which she dissected how to identify trustworthy and untrustworthy sources of medical information. Williams chose a post in which he analyzed the disproportionate amount of attention which non-scientist social media influencers can garner by improperly leveraging wildlife. In Choo's favorite post, she debunked false claims that George Floyd could breathe, using her expertise as an emergency medicine physician.


Q: How would you encourage student scientists to join the social media science community as either an audience member or influencer?
For Williams, the key questions are "Who am I? What can I offer? What do I enjoy the most?" He added that scientific communicators should show their audiences that they are not just scientists, but also regular human beings, using his own passion for rock climbing as an example.

"What do I have to say that isn't already out there?" Leslie urged aspiring communicators not to view this question as a barrier, but rather to recognize that their voice may reach certain people when other voices don't.

​Choo stressed the importance of developing as a scientist before becoming an influencer: "When in doubt, go back to the passion [for science]." She concluded by echoing Williams' advice to engage with the audience personally: "It takes being a little bit vulnerable."