Last fall when I was starting this blog, I turned to Twitter with the following question:

#SciComm Question aimed at Psychological Scientists in particular (but anyone can answer!): Do you think young academics (i.e., graduate students, post-docs, early-career academics) should blog about research?
— Michelle Rivers (@meta_michelle) October 2, 2018

I was curious to know if academics in our field value blogging and what they see as the pros, cons, and challenges of blogging as a young academic.

Overall, 65% of voters supported blogging as a young academic. Only 6% opposed.

Of course, this is a biased sample given that most academics on Twitter are already pretty supportive of science communication (and the responses were limited to my small network). Even so, I found the responses informative.

Here’s what academics had to say about blogging:

Some think blogging has multiple benefits, both for professional development as well as for the general public’s views about science.

Benefits for the young academic: for me, I’ve found that learning effective science communication has helped with my writing and with forming new ideas, as it forces me to step back and think about the broader picture too.

Benefits for general public is that they hear messages directly from the researchers rather than through other sources that may distort the message in unintended ways— Veronica Yan (@EdScientists) October 2, 2018

The purpose of a university is to create and contest knowledge and then share the results. Seems obvious that some of that sharing can be done outside teaching e.g. through blogs.
— Zvi Adama (@AdamaZvi) October 3, 2018

Why: def improve communication skills, useful to vehicle to get scientific info out to public in interesting format. How often: perhaps when the student feels inspired? – difficult to keep up with social media etc. challenges: the writing itself! Targeting an audience
— EFML_UKZN (@efml_ukzn) October 3, 2018

I’d say yes if blogging interests you. It can give you a larger professional presence that might be helpful on the job market or early career.
— Stephen Chew (@SChewPsych) October 3, 2018

Others believe blogging is not a good use of young academics’ limited time, especially given that public outreach is not always valued in academia. Instead, young academics should be focused on honing their research and teaching skills.

Blogging takes an incredible amount of time. Unless the rules of academia change, I say no.
— Lisa Son (@lisakimson) October 2, 2018

Blogging is fun but they should protect their time and do things that will help their careers
— Nate Kornell (@natekornell) October 2, 2018

Yes, once in a while would be a good thing. But this sort of public outreach isn’t valued in academia, so I’d suggest young academics spend most of their time doing things that ARE valued–mainly, sharpening their teaching and research skills.
— Nick Soderstrom (@NickSoderstrom) October 2, 2018

However, guest blogging on occasion can be a great way to reap the benefits of public outreach without detracting too much from time spent on research activities.

I think blogging for a wider audience helps researchers better articulate their ideas and their importance which helps one to be more effective in grant applications, etc. But, it can also be a time sink so I recommend guest posts rather than starting your own blog.
— Lisa Fazio (@lkfazio) October 2, 2018

Possible solution: supervisor or small group of supervisors run blog, each student contributes at least once a year and more if they feel like it. Being able to explain your research is a valuable skill but blogging is only one way to practice that skill.
— Dr Clare Jonas (@thatthinkfeel) October 2, 2018

Other researchers offered some creative ways to incorporate blogging into their academic activities, such as through teaching or while attending conferences.

Liveblogging people’s talks was a great way to think carefully through the ideas of more experienced scholars, share their work more widely, and signal my interest in certain kinds of questions. By becoming a fast liveblogger, I was able to minimize the impact on my schedule
— J. Nathan Matias (@natematias) October 2, 2018

One thing I’ve done as a professor is a blogging assignment. Each student picks a topic that interests them and then distills the research in that area by writing a blog intended to help a broader audience understand it from both a theoretical and practical standpoint.
— Nick Soderstrom (@NickSoderstrom) October 2, 2018

I’ve also created an assignment in my third year Science of Learning course where students write an op/ed article on an issue in education. The goal will be to submit them (campus, local, national newspapers) or post on https://t.co/uYy2RuclgF or https://t.co/q5A1CFrrn1 
— Joe Kim (@ProfJoeKim) October 4, 2018

And finally, a warning about having an internet presence as a young academic:

But be aware of risks. Any misstep may follow you. Suggest starting by guest blogging to test waters.
— Stephen Chew (@SChewPsych) October 3, 2018

Thank you to all those on Twitter who responded to the poll and provided comments.

What are your thoughts on blogging as a young academic?

Image: (1) Pixabay.