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LinkedIn
The ASA group (http://ow.ly/WoOU30eGsRG) was created in August 2008 by Jeffrey E. Babich, of Babich Acoustics LLC, and has 7,434 followers.
Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn lets members increase traffic to their own private or public industry work, publicize job openings, and connect with other professionals in related fields. Typically, this is member driven, with the ASA office occasionally posting about publications or announcements.
Twitter
The Twitter account @acousticsorg (https://twitter.com/ acousticsorg) was created in May 2014 by Arthur Popper and Dan Farrell and has 2,717 followers.
ASA Twitter content is derived from ASA-produced materi- als as well as retweets from regional and student chapters, the ASA journal Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA), and ASA committees. These tweets drive traffic to ASA con- tent such as The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) and Acoustics Today as well to our partners such as the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Inside Science web- site. Twitter is great because it allows non-ASA members to learn about what is going on in the field of acoustics.
YouTube
The ASA YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/ acousticalsocietyofamerica) was created in November 2016 by L. Keeta Jones and Dan Farrell and has 154 subscribers.
As one of ASA’s newest social media outlets, YouTube has given the Society a chance to share Hot Topic talks presented at meetings and produce acoustics-themed videos to share with a general audience. The ASA also links to other quality acoustics-themed videos by other YouTube content creators.
Why Use Social Media?
Many of our members have questions about social media.
Why should I bother? What can it do for me? How can it enhance my teaching or my research or my scientific busi- ness bottom line?
Echoing many of the findings of the Collins et al. (2016) study, one ASA member states it this way: “When used effectively, social media can help your work reach a broader audience. As POMA editor, I’ve promoted the journal through Twitter and Facebook during the past year. I’ve highlighted over 100 papers, shared journal news, and reached out to prospective authors. Like many scientists, I have asked the question, ‘Is it worth my time?’ My experiment is ongoing, and I haven’t been as consistent I’d like, but my answer to that question thus far is an emphatic ‘Yes!’ Social media and related forum-based plat- forms (like Reddit and Quora) may not be places to publish new science, but they can be great tools for increasing aware- ness and enthusiasm for acoustics” (Kent Gee).
The Society will continue to take advantage of social media and to grow it where logical and feasible. ASA’s presence on Facebook will be amplified by creating an official ASA page, which will allow for greater tracking of its social media im- pact. This initiative will allow the ASA to post “official” Soci- ety news and material from the headquarters, while the more informal Facebook group will continue to facilitate informa- tion sharing among the group’s members.
The ASA is now embracing social media more than ever to support both our members and our partner organizations, and to encourage others to explore the field of acoustics. Please join us! You can always help the Society by liking, fol- lowing, subscribing, sharing, and retweeting.
References
Collins, K., Shiffman, D., and Rock, J. (2016). How are scientists using so- cial media in the workplace? PLoS ONE 11(10), e0162680. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162680.
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