Recommended Read: “Should You Be Tweeting?”
A good article by Laura Bonetta titled “Should You Be Tweeting?” on Cell recently highlights a few scientists who have found success in using Twitter to communicate with the public and connect with other scientists and journalists to keep up with research in their field, as well as why some are hesitant to join. Have a read and let me know what you think.
Human filtering versus search engines
Sometimes you are looking for information or photos and Google just doesn’t cut it. Most search engines still lack a semantic quality (machine understanding of language and context to improve search results), but social media gives us a network to help us find what we need. Here is a great example of this: http://ideasandthoughts.org/2009/10/05/when-search-isnt-good-enough/
Our networks are in essence an extension of our own minds; they can help us zero in on what we need in a huge amount of information, give us ideas that we haven’t thought of ourselves, and save us time and frustration in the process.
Why do people blog?
Here is a good summary of a recent study exploring factors influencing knowledge sharing practices on the web: http://www.shockmd.com/2009/10/06/why-blog/
Many people who enjoy helping others simply may not have been introduced to blogging software or online communities to join, or don’t yet see the potential in using these methods to pass on information.
Getting people online is paramount to social media’s success
A recent article about the different classes of people who adopt new technologies at different rates brings up an obvious but important point: the potential of social media will not be realized unless enough people actually use it.
The article links to this one describing some of the reasons why getting scientists online and interacting is so difficult. Some are skeptical, some are overly independent, and some simply don’t realize the potential. Without leaders taking the initiative and risks in these innovations, the nutrition field would fail to keep up with the inevitable changes that others do take advantage of.
This blog will highlight leaders in the nutrition field in hopes of showing how they better the field overall with their creative use of Web 2.0 technologies.
For the benefit of human knowledge, we must begin dropping asocial barriers and convincing those to experiment with new learning methods. With an increasing specialization from rapidly growing research fields, we need to leverage collaborative technologies to augment our human limitations.
It all comes down to taking the time to show those who are slow to adopt social media tools their potential in changing healthcare and human knowledge.
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Join the Nutrition 2.0 FriendFeed room to further discuss these topics: http://friendfeed.com/nutrition20 -
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Join the Nutrition 2.0 FriendFeed room to further discuss these topics: http://friendfeed.com/nutrition20 -