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- CAREER FEATURE
- 01 April 2024
How scientists are making the most of Reddit
- Hannah Docter-Loeb 0
Hannah Docter-Loeb is a freelance writer in Washington DC.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
It has been almost 18 months since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, now known as X. Since the tech mogul took ownership, in October 2022, the number of daily active users of the platform’s mobile app has fallen by around 15%, and in April 2023 the company cut its workforce by 80%. Thousands of scientists are reducing the time they spend on the platform ( Nature 613 , 19–21; 2023 ). Some have gravitated towards newer social-media alternatives, such as Mastodon and Bluesky. But others are finding a home on a system that pre-dates Twitter: Reddit.
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Nature 628 , 221-223 (2024)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00906-y
Fiesler, C., Zimmer, M., Proferes, N., Gilbert, S. & Jones, N. Proc. ACM Hum. Comp. Interact. 8 , 5 (2024).
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Proferes, N., Jones, N., Gilbert, S., Fiesler, C. & Zimmer, M. Soc. Media Soc . https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211019004 (2021).
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Reddit 101 for Scientists
Author: Penny Freedman
When it comes to utilizing social media in the science community, you might not automatically think about including Reddit into your activities. While Reddit threads may have a reputation for being controversial, there is another side to Reddit that is both important and useful to the scientific world.
What exactly is Reddit?
You can think of Reddit as one giant virtual conference for every discipline and subject you could imagine where people break off into smaller groups -called subreddits- to talk about topics interesting to them. When you first enter Reddit it looks like one large message board. When you register for an account you can post content and vote posts up or down the page, helping to determine what will receive the most attention.
What subreddits do I even begin with?
If you’re interested in a more general discussion on science, start with http://reddit.com/r/EverythingScience . It’s a place for people to talk about anything and everything having to do with science. You can filter by field, add your thoughts to discussions already taking place, or start a new discussion by submitting a link to something you are interested in – a blog post, video, news article, editorial, etc.
If you’re looking for a more defined discussion on peer-reviewed science, head on over to The New Reddit Journal of Science at http://reddit.com/r/science . There you may only submit links to published peer-reviewed research. Get the conversation started on your work or a peer’s work!
What is an AMA?
An AMA is short for “Ask Me Anything.” A scientist arranges a time with Reddit moderators to discuss a specific topic related to their research or interests. You submit a brief bio and summary of what you would like to discuss, and the Reddit community is given the chance to submit questions before the AMA start time. There is a submission guide with detailed information on how to get started with setting one up. An AMA is a great way to get a conversation started on items that are of particular interest to you, and a way to share your expertise with people interested in studying or working in the same field, or just interested in learning something new.
Springer editors and authors have hosted a few AMAs, including:
- An AMA on rare and neglected diseases
- An AMA on American politics
- An AMA on realistic robots
How do I establish myself as a qualified scientist in my field to the Reddit community?
Reddit uses something called flair to designate who is a trained scientist, doctor, or engineer. The flair will present as a small bar next to your user name, noting your title and/or education level (such a Professor of Biology, PhD, etc.). When you add this bit of information people will understand that the comments you provide are knowledgeable and valuable. Once you have created your account reference these instructions to get your flair.
How is using Reddit any different than posting on other social media sites?
Reddit gives you the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise in a more detailed, conversational way. You can find people discussing topics at length that you are interested in and can contribute meaningfully to. Unlike social media platforms that are centered around creating a personalized profile that is all about you, Reddit prides itself on being a community. The things you share should not be overly promotional, but should contribute to the discussion as a whole. Joining the discussion can help serve to expand your network and reach.
Penny Freedman is a Marketing Manager on the Author Experience & Services team based in the New York office. She works closely on sharing insight and guidance on the benefits and services available to our editors, reviewers, and authors.
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IMAGES
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Connected Papers: Helps you explore scientific literature in a visual graph. Wolfram Alpha: A powerful computational knowledge engine. CiteSeerX: A search engine and digital library for scientific and academic papers. Scite: Assists in determining whether an article has been supported or questioned by other authors.
For academic research papers, what are your best tips and tricks for being both efficient and doing high quality work? What order do you write the paper in, and how do you keep from going off on too many tangents? How do you deal efficiently with co-authors?
If you're a junior scientist - ask your PI. If you're the PI, I'd look up everyone you know in your field, and set scholar alerts for their papers. Once you hit about 50% of your community's recent papers, you'll see their cited references and be able to find the "missing papers."
Scientific articles can be found behind a paywall, but they are not locked there. First, a lot of preprints, technical reports, extended versions are already available. Instead of only searching via Google, you can check the author's page (often containing preprints, codes), and a lot of archives and similar services: arxiv, biorxiv, hal ...
One way for scientists to try their hand at science communication on Reddit is through ‘ask me anything’ (AMA) sessions, in which researchers answer users’ questions in their own time.
For theoretical physics (or closely related) papers, one possibility is to use the Reviews section of PhysicsOverflow (note that it is possible for the registered PO users to submit there papers for review).
Science Careers asked early-career scientists in a range of disciplines to share their approaches for writing a research manuscript and strategies for overcoming common stumbling blocks. The answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
We discuss how researchers need to consider the impact of Reddit’s algorithms, affordances, and generalizability of the scientific knowledge produced using Reddit data, as well as the potential ethical dimensions of research that draws data from subreddits with potentially sensitive populations.
I'm not well acquainted with how to find scientific papers online, and whether many have to be paid for. I know there are Google Scholar and hundreds of websites, but is there a particular process you go through to find what you're looking for?
Reddit gives you the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise in a more detailed, conversational way. You can find people discussing topics at length that you are interested in and can contribute meaningfully to.