Schoolzone: The social media staff room

In the 15th century, the invention of the typographical printing press led to mass communication. The 16th century scientist Francis Bacon said that the printing press had ‘changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world’; it could be argued that no other invention has made the same impact on the distribution of information, education and our lives in general.

While Francis Bacon marvelled at the wonder of the printing press, he could not have foreseen the arrival of the internet in the 20th century, let alone the ‘new media’ revolution that we are currently witnessing. The internet has become the information hub where people learn, play, connect and communicate with a global audience. New media and ‘social media’ are terms which are fast becoming part of our vocabulary. A staggering two-thirds of the world’s internet population visit social networking websites.

So, what are new media and social media?

Essentially, the term new media encompasses all interactive digital media, such as the internet, while social media tends to cover internet tools for sharing and discussing information. These tools can include social networking sites, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, social bookmarking sites, e.g. Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon, social news sites, e.g. Reddit or Digg, multimedia file sharing, e.g. Flickr and YouTube, and many other interactive platforms for sharing and interacting with web content. Traditional media use one-way communication – it is all about appearances both in print and broadcast; new media seeks feedback, engagement, loyalty and advocacy.

Facebook and Twitter are the most popular platforms. Microblogging site Twitter has around 200 million registered accounts – not bad for a 3 year run. However, since its launch in February 2004, the popularity of Facebook has gone from strength to strength. This particular social media platform now has more than 500 million active users. If Facebook was a country it would be the third largest country in the world!

These platforms are not just for chatting to friends – their use is much broader than that. Increasingly, people are using them to keep up to date with local events, conferences and organizations of which they are members. According to Alan Penn (see Alice Bell’s article on p. 136), ‘Sociable scientists are successful scientists’; exchanges of ideas over coffee help lead to collaborative success in the laboratory. The same can be said for teaching, the staff room being the ideal forum for the mutual exchange of ideas –teachers have been doing this for centuries! Social media, however, provides a platform that extends beyond the walls of an individual teacher’s school. It has no boundaries – this extended forum will allow teachers to exchange ideas on approaches used in the classroom.

SGM and social media

The SGM started its own Facebook page in 2009, and it now has over 1,600 users worldwide. These are members and non-members of the Society and include scientists, teachers and interested individuals with an array of microbiological backgrounds. People who ‘like’ the SGM page, or follow us on Twitter, receive daily updates about microbiology in the news, science festivals and events SGM is attending, podcasts and new educational resources, among various other Society activities. Increasingly, at the many events that we attend, people are telling us that they have come to see us after hearing about our event on Facebook, or that they have found our stand because we ‘tweeted’ it on Twitter.

As an organization, SGM aims to offer our colleagues in schools and colleges an opportunity to connect with us via these sites and be kept up to date with our activities. This two-way communication can help us exchange ideas for future resources, podcasts or events. We are also looking to develop other resources and tools that we can offer our social media ‘friends’.

The future

While it is difficult to know what the future holds for new and social media and their relationship with education, organizations such as SGM will aim to keep on top of further advances in this area – information exchange has come on a long way since the advent of the printing press! In providing our members with quality content and interacting with users, we will adhere to SGM’s mission of promoting modern microbial science across both old and new media. If you are interested in seeing what we are up to in the land of new media, follow us on Twitter (@SocGenMicro) or ‘like’ us on Facebook.

Vicki Symington is SGM Outreach and Education Administrator

The National STEM Centre is running a survey investigating teachers’ use of social media. For your chance to win one of three £50 M&S vouchers please complete the survey at http://tinyurl.com/62wq92t

Check out the latest free-access new media content from SGM

Watch online microbiology-based videos via the video portal. The latest edition features Dr John Schollar from the National Centre for Biotechnology Education demonstrating practical microbiology techniques – these can be streamed directly to your laboratory or be used for in-service training (see also p. 78).

Download SGM’s podcast – Microbe Talk – and listen to microbiology on the move. The most recent instalments include Professor David Blackbourn talking about the tricks that oncogenic viruses use to contribute to the development of certain cancers and Dr Dave Chandler explaining how insect pathogenic fungi could be used as a biological control for the varroa mite that attacks honey bees.