This promoted tweet caught my attention earlier today. It sure did generate a lot of interesting replies.

Sometimes when I review misinformation like in this case, I’ll skip reading the article and try to glean information from the comments.

Give it a shot.

https://twitter.com/yahoonews/status/1248001477223813122?s=21 https://twitter.com/yahoonews/status/1248001477223813122

Let’s discuss some of what’s in there.

First up, Bill Gates.

Somehow a majority of these conspiracy theories tie back to him.

(The irony is that every person claiming Gates is the enemy has benefited from using a Microsoft product.)

Objective analysis is not used to form an opinion. Everything is subjective.

I found this comment particularly interesting. It reads like it should be found on commentary for the latest episode of The Bachelor. Instead, it’s for the Director of the NIAID.

These tweets are the reason why prioritizing #SciComm is necessary.

The comments are a result of lack of understanding about the NIH.

They know it exists, but they don’t know what happens there on a daily basis.

Everyone is a covid19 expert. And, I mean everyone.

I was caught off guard by this comment. Once again, it’s evident that the public lacks an understanding of the NIH and scientific process.

See? Science literacy is important.

I’m sharing these insights for people who are interested in improving their #scicomm skills. Reading these types of comments will help you understand the arguments and logic of people who reject science.

Hopefully that’s helpful.

We can learn so much from social media that can help inform #scicomm strategy.

With this example, I suggest resisting the urge to jump in and combat misinformation with insults. It won’t change minds anyway.