The scientific community is worried about losing Twitter, which has become a valuable tool

The pandemic was a turning point for many researchers, who began to use Twitter as a resource to keep up to date with the latest studies and to exchange with their colleagues at mDouglas E. CURRAN

For days, emergency doctors, virologists, infectiologists or even epidemiologists have been multiplying messages on Twitter, telling their subscribers how to follow them on other platforms, in case the social network bought by billionaire Elon Musk were to malfunction.

The company with the blue bird separated from half of its 7,500 employees, and several hundred others slammed the door, raising concerns regarding the ability of the network to continue. The unpredictability of his new boss also raises fears of measures that would profoundly alter the essence of the platform.

However, since the Covid-19 pandemic, many medical experts have made Twitter a real tool: to get information, share their research, communicate public health messages or even forge working relationships with colleagues.

The pandemic “I think has really been a tipping point in using social media as a resource for researchers,” Jason Kindrachuk, a virologist at the University of Manitoba, Canada, told AFP.

In January 2020, Covid-19 spread like wildfire around the world. Studies are being carried out everywhere to understand how the virus spreads, and how to best protect yourself once morest it. They are shared at full speed on Twitter to respond to the anxiety of health professionals and the general public.

This is the advent of “preprints”, the first version of a scientific study, before it is peer-reviewed and published in a recognized journal.

“In the midst of a pandemic, the ability to quickly share information is crucial for the dissemination of knowledge, and Twitter makes it possible to do this in a way impossible to achieve with “specialized” journals, underlined in April 2020 a comment published in the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine.

The process of verifying the results takes place almost live on Twitter, with scientists publicly sharing their interpretations and criticisms of each new study. With certainly, sometimes, a perverse effect: certain works receive an attention which they do not deserve, and researchers express themselves on subjects distant from their field of expertise.

– Collaboration internationale –

Thanks to Twitter, many experts have also started working together, remotely.

“There are people I work with now from relationships that were born on Twitter. To think that might change in the near future is a source of concern and regret,” said Jason Kindrachuk, 22,000 followers, who works in particular on Ebola in Africa.

Beyond pure research, the social network also plays an important role in terms of communication vis-à-vis politicians and the general public.

At the time of the emergence of the Omicron variant at the end of 2021, “this information was shared publicly via Twitter by our South African and Botswana colleagues”, underlines Jason Kindrachuk, “allowing many countries to start preparing”.

The impact is all the greater since Twitter has long been heavily frequented by another professional body: journalists.

“Because Twitter is a platform very followed by journalists, it helps” to amplify the message, then likely to land in the traditional media, underlines Céline Gounder, specialist in infectious diseases with 88,000 subscribers.

Faced with concern regarding the future of Mr. Musk’s network, she explained to AFP that she had moved a private discussion with a dozen colleagues to Signal messaging, and relaunched her publications on the LinkedIn professional network, or the Post News platform.

Many experts share their profile name on the rival Mastodon network, and others a link to their Substack news feed.

In the event of a problem with Twitter, “we will find other platforms”, relativizes Jason Kindrachuk, “but it will take time, and unfortunately infectious diseases will not wait for us to find new communication mechanisms”.