I am trying to write this note, as a genuine question for the academic community, as I still don't have a clear vision of the current situation, but I needed to take a decision. I used the old version of Twitter and the new version X, mainly for the communication of the results of our Research Lab and to follow the advances of fellow collegues around the world. We all know that Twitter is/was an extremely valuable tool to remain updated on the most recent discoveries, on the side of literature research, which became more and more complex considering the amount of research papers and reviews published each year. I am aware that many other people already asked themselves the same question, especially since Twitter was bought by Elon Musk. However, I still remained on the social, as I thought to have created a social bubble restricted to scientists on my field. Yes, I am aware you can select as well what you see, but come on... we are on the first place social being and naturally we keep ourselves informed, as well, on the news around the world. Considering my "Bear" style of life, without television and without any other social besides X and Linkedin, no wonder that for me is anyway an important question.
I personally have no doubt that X was bought by Musk, to influence US and World politics on a certain direction. I personally have no doubt that X and many other social have been used, to diffuse false scientific claims and theories. I cannot forget the most iconic "Hydroxychloroquine affair" during Covid time! I was even contacted by excited chemical sales representative to promote "very promising new hydroxychloroquine mimetics".
On one hand, a friend of mine, a professional science communicator, made me notice that even though it's almost impossible to stop the avalanche of misinformation on the web, it is possible to crowd it with good, reliable information sources. Moreover, communication of your reasearch is an important part of our job, all calls and fundings rightly require such commitment. Journals even use "re-tweets" to build metrics.
On the other hand, I am not really qualified to act as a communication manager... Besides recognizing the value that Twitter had for Science, now I really feel uncorfortable to use it and I am exploring alternatives. I accept suggestions! This post will be my last communication on "X", even though for now I will still keep the profile active. Whenever Editors will ask if I intend to promote our articles through X, I will answer no and I will ask to consider alternatives. Blueskyes? Mastodon? No idea, the future will tell. Surely, on the opposite of my physical weight, my scientific weight is pretty light to make any difference.
However, Scientists need to take action and responsability, also on how and by whom their work is communicated. We discussed this issue within the group and with some collegues. There are already so many sharp edges in our work (predatory journals and conferences, data manipulation, insane competitivity, etc.), may be we can tick an "X" on the list of things we could get rid of.
