Jordi Villà-Freixa, invited speaker at the event on “Internet i les eines de social media en la comunicació de la ciència”, during the 2014 Social Media Week at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB).

In recent years the Internet and social networks have rapidly become part of many aspects of our daily lives. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube… make it easier to stay in touch with family and friends, join conversations of interest online and have access to more audiovisual material than there are hours in the day to watch’ l! Its ability to quickly spread and amplify content and to do so in an informal environment means that the Internet and social networks have become powerful tools to use in a professional context and also to attract and involve people in different causes.

The Web is today the great platform for researching scientific information, both specialized and dissemination. However, most scientists are yet to use these platforms to communicate their research. In this sense, science communicators can also make great use of it, beyond the online portals of the media where they work or the blogs where they publish their articles. It is in recent years that Facebook and Twitter have begun to be used as tools for the promotion and dissemination of their work or scientific information of general interest.

How to communicate science to society through the Internet and which ways to use to take advantage of the full potential of the Web remains a field that needs to be explored and exploited with more knowledge and tools.

This is why the Secretariat of Universities and Research of the Generalitat de Catalunya has organized a conference  as part of Social Media Week Barcelona (#SMWBCN). Coinciding with the commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the events of 1714, this day is included in the Tricentenary programme. The commemoration, launched by the Generalitat de Catalunya under the slogan “Érem.Som.Serem”, wants to transcend the historical perspective and is presented as an opportunity to share spaces for reflection and dialogue that allow us to jointly rethink a future project.

The conference brought together experts from companies such as Google, Yahoo and the BBC as well as working scientists, journalists specializing in science, university and research center communications managers to discuss the following issues:

• How can you create attractive, potentially viral content on the Internet?
• What are the formats with the most possibilities for disseminating science on the Web? it is everything invented on the internet or is there still room for innovation? What are the future trends?
• What possibilities do Twitter, Facebook, YouTube… offer to communicate science? How can you get the most out of it to build a name on the Internet?
• How can a platform like Facebook help create and position a brand a Internet? How can it benefit a research center to disseminate its work and obtain funding for future projects?

PROGRAM

SMWBCN2014.key