Using interpersonal communication strategies to encourage science conversations on social media.

Today, many science communicators are using social media to share scientific information with citizens, but, as research has shown, fostering conversational exchanges remains a challenge. This largely qualitative study investigated the communication strategies applied by individual scientists and environmental non-governmental organizations on Twitter and Instagram to determine whether particular social media practices encourage two-way conversations between science communicators and citizens. Data from Twitter and Instagram posts, interviews with the communicators, and a survey of audience members were triangulated to identify emergent communication strategies and the resulting engagement; provide insight into why particular practices are employed by communicators; and explain why audiences choose to participate in social media conversations with communicators. The results demonstrate that the application of interpersonal communication strategies encourage conversational engagement, in terms of the number of comments and unique individuals involved in conversations. In particular, using selfies (images and videos), non-scientific content, first person pronoun-rich captions, and responding to comments result in the formation of communicator-audience relationships, encouraging two-way conversations on social media. Furthermore, the results indicate that Instagram more readily supports the implementation of interpersonal communication strategies than Twitter, making Instagram the preferred platform for promoting conversational exchanges. These findings can be applicable to diverse communicators, subjects, audiences, and environments (online and offline) in initiatives to promote awareness and understanding of science.

The Gulfwatch contaminants monitoring program in the Gulf of Maine: Are its data being used for ocean protection, with special reference to Nova Scotia, Canada?

The Gulfwatch Contaminants Monitoring Program is part of the Canada-US, Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC). Programs monitoring legacy toxic substances, i.e., chemical contaminants, such as Gulfwatch, collect and analyse environmental samples (e.g., blue mussels), interpret the data, and report on chemical levels and trends (spatial and temporal) in coastal waters. This study explored the extent to which its extensive information (data, reports, papers) has been used broadly and by Nova Scotia, a GOMC member. A mixed-methods study was conducted, using quantitative and qualitative metrics. Citations to some Gulfwatch papers and analysis of use of the Gulfwatch website showed that its data and information were accessed, mostly by government departments. However, interviews revealed that the departments were not using the data to inform Nova Scotia provincial coastal policy or practices. Recommendations are presented to improve the visibility and use of information provided by long-term, environmental monitoring programs.