FEATURE
for certain presenters. “Some people
will be reluctant to present data at such
meetings,” Dr. Mullighan said. “Whether
real or not, the fear that their findings
are going to be taken by other people
makes them hesitant to present their best
work that is not already in press with a
journal.”
“Investigators may fear that their
information will be disseminated and
then become unpublishable,” Dr. Fisch
agreed. “They present a slide, people take
pictures and Tweet it, and then a journal
claims that the information is already in
the public domain and, therefore, they
are not going to publish it.”
The Pros and Cons of Social
Media
Although views about social media
differ within the scientific community,
Dr. Mullighan said that scientists and
researchers should view engaging in
social media as a win-win situation.
Rather than being relegated to audience
members’ notepads, their groundbreaking findings are immediately publicized
on a large and international stage.
“Social media is here with us, and we
have to work with it,” Dr. Mullighan said.
Presenters should try to embrace social media and use it to their advantage,
agreed Dr. Fisch. For example, before
he prese