Social media trends that scientists and researchers need to keep in mind in 2024

For every 10 communication workshops that we’re invited to deliver for scientists and researchers, at least 3 involve social media. From our 90-minute “Social Media 101” sessions to our multi-week “How to plan, implement and measure a social media campaign for your research group”, it’s clear that for many, social media still seems to be a sort of “holy grail” of research communication.

With that in mind, it makes sense for us as communicators to take a moment to think about what’s happening in the social media space, what social media trends are expected in 2024, and how that might affect the way we work, where we invest our time, and what risks and opportunities these trends might present. It’s useful to acknowledge that there probably won’t be any big surprises in 2024, as many of the emerging trends have either been emerging for a long time (for example, AR/VR) or they build on what happened in 2022/2023.

Without further ado, let’s explore the six emerging trends that we think it’s good to bear in mind for the next 12 months.

Six social media trends to keep an eye on in 2024

1/ Social media users are turning to social platforms as search engines

If you want to know what “real” people think and experience, search results from the big search engines don’t always deliver. Social media users want advice from “actual humans”, and the best place to get that is… wait for it…social media. In 2024 and beyond, social media channels represent the biggest threat to traditional search engines, according to Hootsuite.

This is great news for time-poor communicators, who don’t feel like writing a mini-paper for a single social media post, and who don’t want to spend their lives editing videos…

Tip for researchers and scientists: if public outreach is your goal, could you show up as yourself, talking about your research or your area of expertise in a human, accessible way? If you can, perhaps you could get more visibility for your work, yourself, and your research group.

2/ The influence of AI on social media will continue to increase

If AI, and particularly generative AI like ChatGPT and similar tools, made an impact in 2023, then 2024 will be the year when AI will become ever more present, according to Peter Suciu.

AI’s influence on social media will increase everywhere, especially as we are now seeing AI helpers integrated into just about every tool out there: from website builders to social media scheduling tools and more, generative AI support feels like it’s everywhere. On the plus side, this could be useful for anyone who knows their research but struggles to create accessible content. With many tools focusing on English, these tools can also help non-native speakers reach international audiences (although of course, this means less access for local audiences, which is a problem).

Tip for researchers and scientists: take some time to play with some of the AI tools out there and think strategically about how you can use AI to help you plan, simplify (not “dumb down” – make more accessible!), or “brighten up” your content, without sacrificing the facts.

On the downside: with everyone getting on the AI bandwagon, social channels are likely to be flooded with mediocre content, and worse (see next trend).

3/ Misinformation will continue to be a threat (which means that TikTok will continue to rise)

AI-driven misinformation campaigns will pose challenges, leveraging generative AI and deep-fakes to create convincing fake media.

According to Neal Schaffer, the trend of social media users seeking unfiltered and genuine content is continuing, with TikTok leading the way in setting the tone for what other social media users will see in their feeds.

Tip for researchers and scientists: could TikTok be a channel for you to share your research? Bear in mind the time and effort it takes to create videos, post them, and edit them. With that in mind, could you share the load with a TikTok presence for your research group, with a different member of your team responsible for a single post on alternating weeks?

4/ Video is a big deal (it was in the past, now it’s even more so)

We’ve touched on TikTok, but that’s not the only video channel in town. According to Google Trends, interest in YouTube Shorts (generally a reliable indicator of business interest in the platform) has increased by more than 500% since 2021, and in the last five years, it’s gone from strength to strength.

[Source: Google Trends]

Shorts are important, but it looks like video lengths are set to increase, too – maximum video lengths keep increasing on the big platforms. For example, Instagram Reels can now be as long as 15 minutes, TikTok is experimenting with something similar, and X/Twitter has a new premium subscription that allows paid users to upload videos of up to two hours long.

If you think about trend #1 – social media platforms as search engines – this focus on videos makes sense. If someone wants to learn more about a topic from a real-life human, then they may be willing to invest time in a longer video, too.

Tip for researchers and scientists: could 2024 be the year that you invest in building your video editing skills? Taking videos is relatively easy – almost everyone has a smartphone with recording features, and anyone with a tablet or a laptop/computer can use Zoom or similar tools to record themselves. But editing can be a bit more tricky. Editing could be a useful skill moving forward…

5/ Podcasting will continue to be big, and vlogs (video blogs) and vods (video podcasts, perhaps!) will make a comeback

Have you embraced podcasting? Who hasn’t? Listening to podcasts on the go is now commonplace, and podcasts are relatively easy to produce.  In 2022, Statista (paywall), suggested that the number of U.S. podcast listeners would reach 164 million in 2024, up from 75 million in 2018.

The thing is that most are audio-only, and we’ve already seen that the demand for video is continuing to increase. There are some suggestions that as platforms become more video-centric, with podcasts becoming a strong SEO strategy and original video content becoming more prevalent. Kapwing suggests that video podcasting is the “new frontier”, and We Edit Podcasts predicts a greater lean into video, with YouTube allowing creators to upload podcasts via RSS feed.

Tip for researchers and scientists: podcasts,  video blogs and video podcasts are time-consuming to plan and create. If you think that this is an option for you, perhaps see if you can break down some silos and collaborate with others in your research field or across your institute to lessen the load…

6/ This could be the year of AR and VR. Maybe.

With Apple Vision Pro sales starting on 2^nd February 2024, some are saying that 2024 will be the year of AR and VR. Frankly, we’ve been hearing a lot about this for years and uptake has been slow. Some experts think that 2024 will be the turning point for mixed reality experiences, including in social media, but others agree that although some early adopters will get excited, uptake for most won’t happen in 2024 – whether because of price, opportunities to use the technology or an appreciation of what it brings.

Forbes suggests that AR/VR adoption on social media may grow slowly, primarily in niche areas like gaming and medicine.

Tip for researchers and scientists: if you’re in these fields, then it might be an idea to think about reading the literature, trying out some immersive tech, and thinking about how you could use this to share your research…

So what’s the bottom line?

As these trends unfold, scientists and researchers aiming to use social media to share research with non-experts should anticipate challenges such as navigating AI-driven misinformation and adapting content strategies to suit video-centric platforms. On the plus side, with short, text-focused social media still attracting comments and generating engagement, and a bit of AI help in planning and making complex content more accessible to wider audiences, 2024 might just be looking bright for science and research communicators.