Blogging for science and research communication: what, why, and a quick-‘n-easy way to try it out

Blogging has long been a powerful tool for dreamers, doers, and others for sharing ideas, building communities, and sparking meaningful discussions. But what about for scientists and researchers? Can blogging provide value in the world of academia and research? If you’ve ever wondered whether blogging could help you connect with broader audiences, showcase your work, or even shape public understanding of science, you’re not alone.

Let’s spend a bit of time today thinking about the potential of blogging as a platform for scientists and researchers to share their research, and how to try out blogging and see if it’s for you – with as little time, effort and risk as possible.

But first: what IS blogging?

At its simplest, blogging is about writing and sharing content online, often in a personal or conversational (and if not personal or conversational, certainly in an accessible) way.

A “blog” is an online article, typically of between 500-800 words (although longer and shorter blogs abound). Blogs are hosted on platforms ranging from personal websites to institutional platforms, making it accessible for anyone to start writing and sharing.

Blogging is a flexible medium where you can discuss complex ideas, share experiences, or break down scientific concepts into digestible pieces for different audiences. Blogging often allows the personality of the blogger to shine through: unlike academic writing, where neutrality in both research and the writing up of research is paramount, a blog can present research results AND how you feel about those results. It’s acceptable to feel excited to have completed a case study, disappointed that the results aren’t the right quality (and disappointed that you have to redo the work!), exhausted by the time and effort involved in finishing a paper or attending a conference.

This is important because if you want to connect with lay audiences, or expert-but-diverse audiences, they may find your post because of the facts and figures but they are more likely to become a regular reader or commenter if they connect with the person behind the blog, as well as value the content and data. With that in mind, showing a bit of your personality works in your favour.

What’s involved in blogging for science or research communication?

The low-barrier answer: blogging for science of research communication involves writing an article about your research, discipline, experience, perspectives, or whatever else you think is relevant for your audience.

The longer answer: if you want to take blogging seriously, then you might need to do some planning in advance. What sort of articles do you want to write? Who is your ideal audience? How often will you post? Where will you post your blog?

After the planning comes the preparation: this might mean buying a domain and setting up a website, or creating a free blog on WordPress, or creating an account on Medium or Substack. This involves a bit of branding and positioning: choosing a name (your own or something clever?), colours, a logo (if that’s what you want), a style.

Then comes the writing: finding topics, writing about them, editing them, posting them and promoting them. Promotion means making sure that you have decent SEO (search engine optimisation) in place, and it might also mean sharing the link in your social media accounts, email signature and elsewhere. Alternatively, if you’re really just writing for the pure joy of it, and you’re not too worried about promotion, you could simply post your blog and end there.

If you want your blog to become known more widely for whatever it is that you write about, you may need to think about a bit of marketing on an ongoing basis to tell the world that your blog exists, too.

Is blogging REALLY useful for scientists and researchers (or is it just more “make-work”?)

Whether blogging is useful for you or not will depend on your worldview, time, interest in writing, and interest in sharing your research and research experiences with others.

If you:

• Hate writing
• Aren’t interested in sharing your research, views about your discipline, or experiences with others
• Are struggling to find time to DO your research and live your life

Well, then blogging might not be for you. Having said that, perhaps contributing an occasional post to your organisation or membership society might be beneficial in getting your name out there.

If you like the idea of writing, sharing your work, connecting with others, and you think that you can make time for an activity like blogging, then you’ll be happy to know that blogging offers researchers several benefits, including:

• Broader Audience Reach:
  Blogs allow you to reach non-academic audiences, from policymakers to educators, students, and the general public. Of course, blogs may also bring you to the attention of peers and potential employers and collaborators, raising your profile and amplifying your message even further.
• Enhanced Visibility:
  Sharing your research online can amplify its impact and draw attention to your work. See the note about peers and potential employers, and add funding agencies to the mix, too.
• Enhanced Credibility:
  If you become known for talking about your “thing” – whatever that is, you may well be seen as an expert in your field. Mentioning your blog at conferences, in presentations and talks, and when working with peers, students and the public may help to raise your profile and make you appear more credible in your role.
• Improved Communication Skills:
  Writing for a general audience helps sharpen your ability to convey complex ideas clearly. It also forces you to view your research and experiences from new perspectives, which might be useful and healthy.
• Community Building:
  Blogs foster engagement, helping you connect with peers, collaborators, and enthusiasts in your field. This is especially true when people start to engage with you and comment on your posts, and even if they don’t, you’re likely to see engagement when you share your posts more widely on social media and elsewhere.

To be fair and balanced, you need to know that there are few downsides to blogging, too.

First, it takes time to create quality content. Do you have the time?

Second, because of the format and the audience, some researchers struggle to balance the risk of oversimplifying complex topics with building awareness.

And of course, there is a risk of being misinterpreted or being on the receiving end of public criticism. This latter risk is part and parcel of being a person who stands up for science, and who stands against false facts and misinformation.

Before diving in, it’s a good idea to start with a single blog post and minimal effort. Here’s what we suggest.

Not sure where to begin? Start small:

• Contribute to an Institutional Blog:
  Ask your university or organisation if they accept blog contributions. This minimises the effort of setting up your own platform. As a bonus, the communication or PR team might also be willing to give you some guidance on how to write a good blog post, and review it before it goes live to help you catch any issues.
• Repurpose Existing Content:
  Turn parts of your research papers, presentations, or conference talks into blog posts.
• Collaborate:
  Partner with colleagues to co-author posts, sharing the workload.

Really, really want to set up your own website and run your own blog – for yourself or your research group?

Good on you! For that, you’ll need to give into the world of creating a website or blog, and all that goes with it. We offer a practical workshop on how to design, build and maintain a research website (with blog) to share your research, and we can tailor this for you, including offering it as 1-to-1 coaching.

Need help learning how to write great blog posts? We have a bite-sized workshop on this, too.

So where to from here?

If you’re curious about blogging, take the first step by exploring platforms or reaching out to your institution about contributing to their blog.  This is a relatively low-risk way of getting started and it doesn’t put you under pressure to create regular content.

That’s it!

Good luck on your blogging journey. Enjoy it: life is too short to spend unnecessary time doing things you hate. If writing isn’t your “thing”, get creative about sharing your research. Science and research communication isn’t just about writing.