Who use social media as their primary science news source -- and what what effects? Findings and implications for science journalism from a UK survey

Conference: Future of Journalism

Dates: 14-15 September 2017

Abstract:

In recent years, social media – including blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter – have emerged as potentially effective platforms for concerned citizens to follow and keep science developments under public scrutiny. If journalism was to tap into the power of those platforms to bringing science back into the public sphere, it needs to understand who use them, why they do so and what effects it might have on their science attitudes and knowledge. Based on a secondary analysis of the most recent Public Attitudes to Science survey (PAS 2014) in the UK, this study investigates the differences between those using social media as a primary science news source and their counterpart in terms of (a) attitudes to science and society relationship; (b) perception of science risks and benefits; (c) perceived level of being informed about science; and (d) attitudes to mainstream science journalism.

Source: Manual