Younger scientists using social media

Younger scientists follow more life science vendors using social media.

Early in their careers, younger scientists are highly motivated to learn as much as possible about “everything” – including products and services related to their research. Familiarity with social media for personal use helps them to make the transition to use social media for their professional development.

In a recent survey, we asked 835 scientists of all ages:

Which life science vendors do you follow or like using social media?”

The results showed that scientists 30 or younger follow significantly more social media sites than those 41-50 and 51 or older.

Mean Number of Life Science
Vendors Followed or Liked Using
Social Media by Age
30 or younger (n=39): 9.8
31-40 years (n=171): 6.7
41-50 years (n=141): 5.8
51 or older (n=60): 5.7
 
Chart of Top Ten Vendors Followed by Age
 

Consistent with findings from an earlier survey conducted in February,”Younger scientists (those 40 and younger) spend more time reading and of that time, they spend more hours than average learning about products and services related to their research.” BioInformatics LLC report #13-001, page 1-6, February 2013.