Welcome to Lesson #3 of the SciComm Society “Making An Impact” email course!
How did it go with relating your science to your audience? Did you have any obstacles in creating the posts? Hit reply and tell us about it!
In this lesson, you’ll continue to build on the foundation you’ve created and keep breaking down your scientific research for your audience.
When you wrote your first post, did you find it difficult to explain your project without jargon? Did you get comments and questions on your post? How high was the level of engagement?
We found from our own experience that the more someone relates to our social media post, the more likely they will engage with it. The more shares, replies, or saves the post gets.
But before they can relate to a post, they have to understand its content.
And so often, we see that scientists talk about their research with too much jargon, technical terms, and complex concepts. Unfortunately, someone from outside of your field will have no idea what these terms mean and what you’re talking about. So, they won’t understand the content of your post and will miss the opportunity to learn from it.
This phenomenon is widespread.
Most scientists are so close to their research topics that they forget how much they’ve learned since they started.
Think about what words you had to define for your audience in your last post. Were they foundational concepts?
Some of the things I’ve (Justine) posted have been so simple that I was honestly shocked that people shared them or engaged with them because I assumed people knew that stuff already.
One time, I wrote a post about the different types of microbes, thinking it was too simple, but it was shared a bunch of times. Even microbiology professors were interested in using the material for their classes.
If you break down complex topics into something simple, you never know who you might help!
Explaining basic concepts like the different shapes, colors, or sizes of bacteria always gets huge engagement levels on social media. To us, these basic facts are clear.
However, don’t forget that the people you want to reach (folks outside of your scientific field) don’t have the same level of education in your specialty as you do. If you’re writing for an audience like yourself, then you will have a hard time reaching non-scientists.
So, the goal of this lesson is to adapt your research project to non-scientists. And the first step is to go back to the beginning, breaking down complex scientific concepts and terms into simple processes and phrases.
And the secret here is easy: the simpler, the better!
If you think it’s something everyone knows, you’re probably wrong. So, start feeling comfortable talking about the basic concepts of your research field. There is always someone who did not know it and will feel grateful for sharing your knowledge!