Communicating science: lessons from a Twitterstorm

Little, Hannah

Abstract

In early August 2019, the U.S.A. saw 2 significant mass shootings in just 48 hours. On Twitter, Neil deGrasse Tyson responded with a tweet to his millions of followers. He outlined the number of deaths in 48 hours from other causes, and seemed to disparage the human tendency to respond emotionally “more to spectacle than to data”. The tweet resulted in an uproar. This “twitterstorm” might provide important lessons for practicing science communicators. The first lesson outlined in this letter is about the use of analogy in science communication, and the second is about how emotion is addressed in science communication.

• Journal Article Type: Letter
• Acceptance Date: Aug 29, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 16, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 16, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 17, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 18, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Science Communication
• Electronic ISSN: 1824-2049
• Publisher: Sissa Medialab
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: L01
• Series ISSN: 1824-2049
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18040101
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/3064286
• Publisher URL: https://jcom.sissa.it/archive/18/04/JCOM_1804_2019_L01
• Contract Date: Sep 17, 2019