“Science communication needs clickbait and sensationalism”
Scientists ought to be on social media like everyone else, says the PhD student Marcus Yong. And they should adopt a more effective style of communication.
The neuroscientist Marcus Yong believes that the hesitant attitude shown by many researchers towards social media is in part to blame for the sluggishness of the scientific community when responding to the flood of dangerous online disinformation. | Illustration: Klub Galopp
Scientific content rarely makes it onto my social media feed. But when it does, it is usually in the form of fear-inducing posts about microplastics, or another everyday product supposedly found to cause cancer. In fact, I struggle to recall a single science-based headline that has recently left a lasting impression on me – a reality that is shared by my friends. This invisibility is a problem, as social media represent the primary source of information for much of the public.
The scientific community has begun to recognise this deficit by dedicating resources to spaces like TikTok. Yet, traditionalists still suffer from a fundamental misunderstanding of their audience, resulting in dreary content that suffers from low interaction and visibility. A recent debate on LinkedIn, sparked by the science journal Nature having joined TikTok, perfectly encapsulates this, revealing scientists to be fiercely resistant to the notion that long-form articles have become obsolete in an era of social media and sci-influencers. This mindset underlies the current sluggish scientific response to the spread of dangerous misinformation online. Let’s be clear about one thing: science communication is for the general public, people who are rarely going to read an article or paper to understand the nuances of the latest scientific claim – and they should not be expected to.
On social media, sensational and click-worthy headlines are required to capture attention. To reclaim these spaces and keep scientific rationality at the forefront of people’s minds, science needs proactive, clickbait communication. Headlines like ‘Scientists discover new colour!’ spark curiosity and leave a lasting impression. Drama engages; data disengages.
Of course, embracing sensationalism does not mean distorting facts, but rather allows boring data to be turned into compelling narratives. The next generation of digitally fluent scientists already possesses the skills necessary to balance engagement with scientific integrity. All they now need is the backing of the scientific community. With everything wrong that is going on in the world right now, a little scientific exuberance is exactly what we need!
Marcus Yong is a PhD student in neuroscience at the University of Zurich and an aspiring science communicator.
