Thanks to Twitter I'm part of a science and media panel discussion

Last week I received an email invitation to be part of a panel discussion on science and media hosted by the Community Advisory Committee of WNYC, New York's public radio station.

Among those confirmed to appear on the panel are:

• Ellen Horne, Executive Producer, Radio Lab
• Ellis Rubinstein, President, New York Academy of Sciences
• Robert Pollack, Professor, Director of the Center for the Study of Science and Religion, Columbia University

We'll be focusing on how the sciences should or could be covered in the media, and the discussion will revolve around how (or whether) science is adequately represented on air, and more specifically, how WNYC may better cover topical science-related issues.

It should be a fun and interesting evening, and I'm flattered to be invited. I asked Basya Mandell, chair of the CAB, how she found me, and without missing a beat she said she found me on Twitter.

I shouldn't have been surprised. When I joined Twitter last October, the last thing I was thinking about was the opportunities it would bring me. But this just goes to show the power of social media, or perhaps more accurately, the power of being social in social media. I like to think that my tweets contribute to a conversation, and this nicely validates that.

This also reinforces the current school of thought that Twitter is now a real-time search engine competing with Google.

Media relations alive and kicking in New York City

Recently, there have been discussions about the relevance of the phrase "media relations" at a time when the traditional target of our pitching, the news media, seems to be shrinking at an ever faster rate. I'm here to say that reports of the death of media relations has been slightly exaggerated.

I attended a "Health Media Check-up" yesterday, sponsored by the Publicity Club of New York. I was one of about 15o PR folks who showed up to hear a panel of editors (and one broadcast producer) tell us the kinds of stories they are looking for and the most effective ways to pitch to them and their colleagues.

The panel comprised:

• Leah McLaughlin, Brand Editor, Prevention Magazine
• Scott Hensley, News Editor, New York Health and Science Bureau, The Wall Street Journal
• Thea Trachtenberg, Producer for ABC News/Good Morning America
• Alice Park, Department Head, Science, TIME Magazine
• Lynya Floyd, Senior Editor, Health and Relationships, Essence Magazine

Although all of the panelists had interesting things to say -- and I learned things about each outlet that I did not know before -- I found Scott Hensley's discussion of the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog particularly interesting.

Since its launch in March 2007, Scott reported there have been more than 3700 posts and more than 57,000 comments. With readers using the comments section to talk to one another and offer opinions, some posts can become a "communities unto themselves." As an example, Scott pointed to a post on the Vioxx settlement, which he says still attracts multiple comments to this day.

Other than that, the only other mention of social media was by Scott as well. When he said he was on Twitter, there was an audible collective "hmmm" and lots of people scriblling down his Twitter handle. Scott did warn, though, that he's not keen on getting pitched on Twitter. And he reminded us that if we are pitching on Twitter, "the whole world is going to see it, and that may not be cool for you."

Some things I've learned about Twitter

Last night, Science Writers in New York, the local science writing group of which I am co-president, organized a panel on social media for science writers.

The panel members were

• Scott Dodd – Web Editor, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Judith Meskill – Self-described “Social Media Evangelist”
• Jay Rosen – Professor of Journalism, NYU
• Christie Nicholson – Editor, Scientific American Online
• Adnaan Wasey – Web Editor, The Takeaway, WNYC Radio

Naturally, there was lots of talk about Twitter. I've received a few queries about Twitter from some "novice" users who decided to take the Twitter plunge after last night's meeting. (I put novice in scare quotes because, after only three brief months on Twitter, it's a bit surreal that people are asking me for advice. Yes, you too can become a seasoned pro in 12 short weeks...)

So, here are some links to sites that got me up to speed in a very short period of time:

Basics

• Social Media University, Global: Twitter Course
• A Newbie's Guide to Twitter
• Twitter Basics for Journalists and Recovering Journos
• How To Twitter - The Basics
• Twittering Tips for Beginners
• The Art and Science of Retweeting for Twitteraholics

Intermediate

• Fifteen Twitter follow dos and don'ts
• A Minimalist’s Guide to Using Twitter Simply, Productively, and Funly
• How To Use Twitter: Tips for Bloggers
• Why I Twitter (And Why You Should Too)
• HOW TO: Win Friends and Twinfluence People

Advanced

• How I use Twitter at Volume
• Tweet Your Message to a Larger Audience with Hashtags
• Develop a Twitter Landing Page
• Twitter Tools for Community and Communications Professionals
  

Finally, here's a link to my Twitter-tagged Delicious bookmarks, which contains many of these links and more. I bookmark frequently so be sure to check back periodically.

If you have a question, ask in the comments. If I don't know the answer, I may be able to point you in the right direction.

Twitter image courtesy AODdesign.

Mayo Clinic takes bold step forward in social media

Mayo Clinic launched a blog last week for employees and patients called Sharing Mayo Clinic. As someone who works at an institution that is creeping slowly into social media, I think it's a bold move.

Why? Well, Mayo, as an institution, is really putting itself out there. Not only are they writing stories about patients and research studies, but they are inviting -- gasp -- comments from employees, patients, anyone who reads the blog. I've skimmed through the comments, and they are overwhelmingly positive.

It's also a little intimidating, because Lee Aase and his colleagues seem to be able to do it so effortlessly.

I shared Sharing Mayo with some colleagues, one of whom had doubts about the authenticity of the site and whether anyone could be sure that it was a genuine community rather than just a place to plant "feel good" stories. I asked Lee about this, and how he responds to this type of criticism:

We are completely overt. We're not giving people suggested language to send to an elected official to artificially imply support. And we accept and welcome negative comments.

If we have "feel-good" stories it's because most people feel good about their experiences. But here's a link to a comment that wasn't so positive.

http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2009/01/18/share-your-mayo-clinic-story-january-2009/#comment-13

We expect that there will be both positive and negative comments. Given our patient satisfaction ratings, the positive should outweigh the negative. It's a risk we're willing to take. And hopefully we can learn from the negative.

Meanwhile, our comment moderation policy is posted, and the only comments not approved so far are the spam comments Akismet has kicked out...for herbal viagra or whatever.

I think Mayo is breaking some very important ground with this initiative, and I'll be watching closely to see where they take this next.

Apple's Macintosh turns 25

Mac512Guy posted an Apple video from 1983 on YouTube in honor of the Macintosh's 25th anniversary:

The Macintosh Story, Part 1:


Part 2:


My first encounter with the original Macintosh was in my junior year at Penn State, when the Ceramic Science and Engineering Department bought one for the department library. I still remember when my buddy Greg inadvertently reformatted one of the disks when given the on-screen option after inserting it. I also remember the empowering feeling of being able to use all those different fonts and font sizes in MacWrite just because you could.

It was an amazing piece of technology then. Hard to believe 25 years have passed. Happy birthday, Macintosh!

Hello, world

It's been about three weeks or so since I decided to start a blog. I resisted for a long time, but after spending several weeks microblogging on Twitter, I think I'm ready. Turns out, 140 characters sometimes isn't enough to express everything I have to say.

I'll be blogging about science communication and higher ed PR, and how both might benefit from social media. I'm going to focus on a few things that I know very well, and some things that I know enough about to be dangerous. I'll let you decide which is which.

I'm not under any illusion that anything I write is going to change the world, but maybe I'll be able to make someone think about something a little differently. Or, to paraphrase Del Reeves, I might look at things in a little bit of different light through a conversation on this blog.

So, let the conversation begin.