Evaluation of Social Media And Its Prominence in Astronomy

Controversy in astronomy is quite different from the norm. Rather than heated debates popping with news and buzzing astronomers, much of the actual debating is more long standing with information coming out in slow, steady streams. So when I attempted to find something in social media about the non-expanding universe debate, it was of no surprise to me that the measly 50 or so responses given by storify all had nothing to do with it.

Yes some astronomers use social media. Yes they even post new discoveries on social media. But nowhere near all of them. Its not the debating in astronomy that is buzzing, it is astronomy itself. There is so much new discovery every day, each more exciting than the next. Things like new planets that could have alien life or a revolutionary type of rocket are much more appealing to the public, the audience of social media. So why would any of the few astronomers that actually have a twitter or an instagram post about a discovery that the universe might not be expanding. The information is so recent and is in such opposition to common thought that the community cannot be near enough satisfied with its relevance or credibility in order to start spouting off on social media. Perhaps 5 or 10 years down the line when the subject has been analyzed a bit further, it is possible that the community will come to a more solid answer and the news will be much more prominent. But even then, will it be posted on social media? Does the average joe even know that the predominant theory is that the universe is expanding? Will he even care when he hears it might not be? The target is the public, and unfortunately the public just does not care about the vast majority of what astronomers have to offer. A normal user of twitter would rather hear about a cool new planet. Not to say that those discoveries are not exciting or of great importance, but there are many astronomers that would be equally excited by finding that two quasars are being pulled together in a uniform pattern - something the public would not even understand.

Let us take a look at a recent twitter post by the esteemed Neil Degrasse Tyson, the public face of astronomy. Here, the 56 year old curator of Hayden Planetarium posts about how people would fly off in the East if the Earth ceased rotating, even if they were bolted to the ground. Does this really have much to do with astronomy? Yes it does pertain to astrophysics, but it is certainly not a huge discovery or controversy in the field. And yet, it still has over 11,000 favorites. Why? Because it is interesting to the public; the target audience of the tweet.

Social media has its place in astronomy, but acting as any major form of communication is just before its time. Maybe once the topic becomes more well known by the public we will see intensive twitter wars between astrophysicist, but that is unfortunately not today.