Twitter for Scientists: an Idea Whose Time Has Finally Come?

an article by Paul Basken published in The Chronicle of Higher Education with grateful thanks to ResearchBuzz Firehose

Tweeting has long posed a dilemma for scientists.

There’s abundant evidence that widely sharing a research finding in just one or two simple sentences greatly increases its use and effectiveness.

But, ugh, that usually means Twitter – in the eyes of many, a low-attention-span cesspool of trolls, political partisans, and amateur comedians known more for braggadocio and snark than reason and facts.

Now, with federal backing, there’s another option.

Known as Polyplexus, meaning “a network of many”, it’s a compilation of 300-character summaries of research findings, created with the idea of driving crossfield discoveries and spawning public and private funding for follow-up studies.

Unlike Twitter, it’s meant to be “a professional environment for research-and-development professionals”, said a Polyplexus developer, John A. Main, a program manager at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa.

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