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 [1]. 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 [2]. Twitter is a popular microblogging platform famously limited to messages of up to 140 characters [3] 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 [4]–[6], as well as the capacity to be used for the communication of science itself [7]. 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 [8]. 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 [9].
Via Niklaus Grunwald, NikolaosKourakos