Twitter style guide
The Structure:
A tweet consists of several elements potentially: main text (up to 280 characters), hashtags (#), mentions (@), a visual object (foto, video, preview to a link, poll)
Besides these ‘active’ elements, there are also constitutive elements pertaining to every tweet, such as your account name and twitter handle, the meta-data of the tweet, the engagement-data of the tweet, and a list of ways to engage.
There are several types of tweets: simple tweet, a thread (a series of consecutive tweets that are visually organized to follow each other), a retweet, and a quote-tweet,
- Simple tweet: Just start typing in the “whats happening” box
- Thread: hit the “+” sign to add more tweets
- Retweet: hit the retweet button to share a tweet in your timeline
- Quotetweet: hite the quote tweet button and comment on a tweet that you added to your timeline
The Content:
Social media reporting from conferences consists in a diverse array of different activities and practices. There are certain standards and rules of what makes a good conference tweet, but —as with any set of rules— once these rules are mastered most of them can be (consciously) broken.
Here, we will focus on some basic rules when twittering from a conference talk, but of course, every aspect of conference-life is tweetable. Reporting from a talk might however be the most regulated activity, as it concerns the professional lives of the presenters. Thus, conference talk-tweeting deserves the most care.
- Make sure you tag the presenter, and their affiliation (@) if they are on twitter.
- Hashtags: use the conference hashtag as given in the booklet (e.g., it was #ISH21 in 2021, but #ISH2023 for 2023), and other hashtags that match the topic of the talk (e.g., #ecoevodevo, #feministphilsci, #explanatorypluralism, #sts, #histSTEM… )
- Use the title of the talk in your description, or paraphrase the content of the talk in your own words
- photos: make sure not to take photos of the presentation if the speaker indicates a no-tweeting preference. Watch out for no-tweeting signs on individual slides of the presentation
- you can use polls or surveys to increase engagement
- threads: you can choose to make the tweeting from a talk more extensive by creating a thread by, e.g., real-time summarizing the flow of the argument in several sub-tweets
- stay polite and constructive at all times!
Code of Conduct
Find below some etiquette ISHPSSB has drawn up around social media, recording talks, and other virtual aspects of our media that we ask you to become familiar with and abide by. This is in addition to common sense courtesy, of course, and the policy on respectful behaviour and harassment.
Social Media and Recording Etiquette
We ask all attendees to keep in mind the value of ephemerality of conference presentations. ISHPSSB presentations often feature works-in-progress or very early-stage work. What you are seeing is typically unpublished, and the culture of ISHPSSB is to provide critical yet constructive feedback aimed at helping people develop their projects.
ISHPSSB presentations are not intended to be archived or taken as finished projects; an important component of the spirit of ISHPSSB meetings is the opportunity to workshop projects with an interdisciplinary audience. Many members that feel comfortable doing this in a room at an in-person conference may have hesitations about their presentation being recorded or shared over social media. We recognize that the etiquette around this is developing —especially for virtual conferences— and offer the following guides as we navigate this.
Recording Talks
Unless expressly permitted, individual attendees should not record talks with the intent of sharing that material (be it over social media or otherwise). This includes, but is not limited to, video recordings and screenshots of slides. Please keep in mind that ISHPSSB meetings encourage presenters to workshop unpublished and early stage material that they may not want publicized out of context of a live talk.
Social Media Etiquette
Background
Increasingly, members of academic disciplines are using Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms to broadcast information from professional conferences to a wider audience. However, norms around the use of social media tools at professional conferences have not yet solidified, and some conference participants may feel uneasy at the potential for social media coverage to misrepresent their claims, to present in-progress work as finished material, or to broaden their audience in an unwelcome way.
Policy and Etiquette
ISHPSSB meetings are an opportunity for attendees to share their work with a wider audience. Social media can help extend that audience to people not at the meeting, and to the public. Norms around the use of social media in academic culture are still emerging. Meeting attendees using social media to broadcast content from the conference to a broader audience are asked to engage with respect and professionalism. Do not post images from presentations without consent. Be clear about when you are posting the words or claims of a presenter and when you are posting your own opinion on a presentation. Be considerate of presenters' requests for no social media coverage; they may be sharing work with their peers at this conference to foster discussion and feedback, but feel that the findings are not ready for wider consumption. If you prefer that your presentation not be shared via social media, communicate that clearly to your audience.
Presenters have been encouraged to express their preference on audience use of social media, and provided with a ‘no social media’ icon to include on their slides. Chairs will remind audiences to be respectful of presenter preferences on this. If you use social media to comment on ISHPSSB presentations, we ask you to follow our social media style guide.