Should Science Journalists be on TikTok?
Pros and Cons to the social media platform for journalists
Before you start at TikTok as a science journalist, consider the following pros and cons.
In short, yes, I think so. But look at these pros and cons and ask if it’s right for you.
Who am I?
I’m a science journalist, currently authoring the book Carcass: The Afterlives of Animal Bodies, and I do TikTok as a hobby, producing videos mostly about bones for @RollBones. I have 209,000 followers and I don’t even post that much, maybe a handful of times a month. I have also made videos for my employer at the time, Bay Nature Magazine. The videos I produce for my RollBones account, I should note, are not especially journalistic in nature.
However, I have given several talks on TikTok/vertical video for science communicators, at the National Association of Science Writers conference, at the Science Journalism Forum, at Words for Nerds at the University of Delaware, and for the Society for Environmental Journalists. Let me know if you’d like me to speak at your event, professionally.
Onto the pros and cons:
Why you should
- It’s really easy
