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A Website Facebook Instagram B Age distribution of and transparent metrics (see GSA Data
LMIC countries Facebook followers Repository Fig. DR11 for statistics and
Canada LMIC coun LMIC coun growth from 2012 to 2017). The ultimate
tries 21% challenge of any ISMP is evolving as new
17% technologies and media emerge that change
tries the landscape of social interactions.

ROutshseiar LMIC CONCLUSION
India
Other UIC Science outreach with an ISMP provides
an opportunity to more efficiently engage
SpGaeinrmany with a diverse body of students and aspir-
Other LMIC Indonesia ColombiaBrazil 18% ing scientists around the world in order to
Brazil ItaAlyustralia foster a global network of current and
Other UIC PakistIanndia United Kingdom Mexico Male future scientists. TG provides a case study
Australia United States Italy United States Other LMIC 11% Female on diversifying outreach efforts across a
Canada variety of social media platforms. This
United Kingdom United States 8% model is not unique to TG and can be
Australia 6% applied to any scientific subdiscipline. Our
5% hope is that funding agencies and sponsor-
United Kingdom Other UIC 0.6% 3% 3% ing institutions will see value in this type
0.3% 2% of public outreach and incentivize social
2% media outreach among scientists.

0.8% ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ The authors thank the participants of the
TravelingGeologist survey and two anonymous
C Twitter Website Facebook Instagram reviewers. TravelingGeologist is indebted to the
-academic E -academicE -academic contributors who have shared their adventures and
non 12% E -academicE love of science with the community.
4% A non 12%
19% non REFERENCES CITED
non
D A 14% Andrews, E., Weaver, A., Hanley, D., Shamatha, J.,
19% 21% A and Melton, G., 2005, Scientists and public
outreach: Participation, motivations, and
29% D A impediments: Journal of Geoscience Education,
20% 43% v. 53, p. 281–293, doi:10.5408/1089-9995-
D D 53.3.281.
24% 20%
Bik, H.M., and Goldstein, M.C., 2013, An
C B C B C B C introduction to social media for scientists: PLoS
26% 32% 17% 26% 15% 22% 8% B Biology, v. 11, no. 4, e1001535, doi:10.1371/
journal.pbio.1001535.
17%
Bik, H.M., Dove, A.D.M., Goldstein, M.C., Helm,
increasing ‘non-academic’ audience R.R., MacPherson, R., Martini, K., Warneke, A.,
and McClain, C., 2015, Ten simple rules for
A = High School / Undergraduate student B = Graduate student C = Employed University educator / researcher effective online outreach: PLoS Computational
Biology, v. 11, e1003906, doi:10.1371/journal.
D = Employed Government / Industry E = Unemployed / retired pcbi.1003906.

Figure 2. (A) Geographic distribution of website traffic and Facebook/Instagram followers. LMIC— Moore, S.L., 2015, GeoFORCE: Inspiring the
lower-/middle-income countries (as defined by the World Bank); UIC—upper income countries. (B) geoscientists of tomorrow through field
Age/gender distribution of followers of TravelingGeologist on Facebook; e.g., 11% of females and experiences: The Leading Edge, v. 34, p. 1210–
18% of males are 18–24 years old. (C) Chart of the current education/employment situation for sur- 1212, doi:10.1190/tle34101210.1.
vey respondents made up of TravelingGeologist readers.
Manuscript received 8 Feb. 2017
(n = 43) to report greater gender diversity at can expand conversation to lengthy Manuscript accepted 24 Mar. 2017
TG than in their institution, suggesting an discussions with photos and videos.
important role for social media in supporting Instagram offers quick, ephemeral
gender diversity in academia. outreach using photographs requiring
minimal engagement (“double tap”).
We attribute the success of TG to some TravelingGeologist.com is less
key principles that should be employed by socially interactive but offers a per-
any group wishing to use social media as a manent and in-depth outreach pres-
successful outreach tool: ence through contributor-produced
1. TG has a focused goal; i.e., inspiring georeferenced articles. These articles
are short and non-technical. While not
the next generation of scientists by neglecting the science, articles delve
targeting young people interested in into the human stories behind the
adventure travel and science. Field- research. By using multiple platforms,
based research and teaching is an TG is able to reach a wider audience.
effective way to recruit students to the 3. With TG, content is not generated by
geosciences (e.g., Moore, 2015). a single researcher, therefore lessening
Additionally, adventure and travel pressure for content generation. This
narratives inherent to field-based sci- lightens the load for any one person and
ence, when shared effectively, offer an providing more diverse content.
alternative, low-cost approach to Earth scientists are invited to participate
boosting the visibility of and interest by submitting an article (500–2000 words)
in science careers. This is a specific and photographs (with captions) from field-
audience niche, and focus enables based research (recent or historical). Sub­
building a recognizable social media mitted material is reviewed and edited by
brand (e.g., Bik et al., 2015). volunteer staff and queued for publication.
2. TG is a single unified platform that
uses multiple web-based platforms: ASSESSING ENGAGEMENT IMPACT
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and FROM OUTREACH EFFORTS
TravelingGeologist.com. These plat-
forms offer different levels of out- A final key aspect of using an ISMP to
reach. Twitter offers links to external enhance outreach is measuring success eas-
sources, pithy commentary, or simple ily. Followers, readership, downloads, and
announcements, but each post/com- engagement are quantifiable with accessible
ment is limited in length. Facebook

1GSA Supplemental Data Item 2017209, growth statistics of the TravelingGeologist integrated social media platform, is online at www.geosociety.org/ 29
datarepository/2017/.

www.geosociety.org/gsatoday