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Ten Simple Rules of Live Tweeting at Scientific Conferences

10 rules
The power of mobile communications has increased dramatically in recent years such that these devices (smartphone or tablet computer) can be used productively to do science. The software applications installed on them do not necessarily have to be specialized to be useful for science, e.g., Evernote can be used as an electronic lab notebook. Twitter is a popular microblogging platform famously limited to messages of up to 140 characters and represents a simple way to express what's on your mind to a global audience of followers. Twitter has useful real-world scientific applications, such as in disease surveillance enabling the tracking of disease pandemics, as well as the capacity to be used for the communication of science itself. Like other professionals, scientists are increasingly tweeting about their own research and the work of colleagues and sharing links to scholarly publications, laboratory results, and related scientific content such as molecular structures. Twitter can additionally serve as a catalyst in the development of scientific tools, with at least one mobile app for science coming directly out of a tweet at a scientific conference.

Common Twitter Abbreviations:

  1. # = hashtag
  2. @ = nametag, a way to reply to someone
  3. .@ = broadcast a tweet that begins with a nametag
  4. RT = retweet, share something already tweeted
  5. HT = hat tip, acknowledge or thank a source
  6. DM = direct message
  7. CX = correction
  8. Tweetup = physical meeting of tweeters

Additional abbreviations can be found elsewhere:

Acronyms for common conferences can be found here:

Ten Simple Rules of Live Tweeting at Scientific Conferences

Rule 1: Short Conference Hashtag


  • As soon as the meeting is announced, conference organizers should claim a short (6–8 characters) descriptive # that includes the year.

Rule 2: Promote the Hashtag


  • Highlight the hashtag in all conference materials online, in print, on name badges, and on Twitter if possible.

Rule 3: Encourage Tweeting


  • Encourage live tweeting at the conference. Session chairs can facilitate this and relay questions from the twitterosphere.

Rule 4: Conference Twitter Etiquette


  • Keep questions short and on the science, avoid grandstanding, encourage responsible tweeting, and avoid harassment or snarkiness.

Rule 5: Conference Tweet Layout


  • List speaker name, affiliation and conference hashtag in the first tweet; surname or initials and meeting hashtag are sufficient thereafter.

Rule 6: Keep Conference Discussion Flowing


  • Summarize presentations concisely, use hashtags for keywords, and use “@ reply” to engage individuals who can add to the discussion.

Rule 7: Differentiate Your Opinions from the Speaker's


  • Separate your own comments/viewpoints on the speaker or science being described in a presentation from the speaker's own words.

Rule 8: Bring Questions up from Outside


  • Check for and raise questions from those outside the conference, returning the speaker responses to positively enforce participation.

Rule 9: Meet Other Live Tweeters Face to Face


  • Organize tweetups so that conference attendees can meet in person and consolidate relationships and collaborations.

Rule 10: Emphasize Impact of Live Tweeting


  • Ensure that positive effects of tweeting at conferences, such as discoveries, publications, or collaborations, are highlighted.

Read the complete article @ PLOS Computational Biology

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Twitter is a popular microblogging platform famously limited to messages of up to 140 characters and represents a simple way to express what's on your mind to a global audience of followers.