The Topic: Scientists in the university Twitterverse: Comparing interactions and topics between individual, institutional and official voices
As a result of the profound changes of information and media environments, science communication is increasingly taking place digitally. Social media platforms have led to a pluralization and diversification of science communication, allowing various scientific and non-scientific actors to share or discuss scientific findings. Key players in this are communicating scientists and universities: Many universities have established official Twitter accounts to enhance their public outreach. However, the public communication of universities is not only shaped by official accounts, but also—and probably even more so—by decentral voices: These comprise both individual actors, such as scientists or Ph.D. students, and institutional actors such as departments or schools, who publicly communicate in the name of their university. This study presents findings from a quantitative content and network analysis of the Twitterverse of a case university. It identifies which individual and institutional voices communicate in the university Twitterverse, and compares how these voices interact with the official voice, how the mentions network is constituted, and which topics they communicate about.
The Person:
Sophia Charlotte Volk, Ph.D., is a senior research and teaching associate at the Division of Science Communication at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). She received her Ph.D. from Leipzig University (Germany) with a dissertation on "Comparative Communication Research" (Springer VS, 2021), in which she examined the methodological and social challenges of conducting comparative studies in international teams. Her research interests include strategic communication, science communication, evaluation and impact measurement, digital media environments, international comparisons, and team science. Methodologically, she combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sophia currently serves as Deputy Representative of the Public Relations/Organizational Communication Division of DGPuK.
