Community and trust matter more than ever on social media
Author: Laura Graham-Clare
78% of researchers use social media for work - but a fragmented landscape means community and trust matter more than ever.
How researchers use social media is evolving rapidly - and our 2025 survey of over 10,000 academics highlights just how fragmented, yet vital, these platforms have become for the research ecosystem. In a series of blogs, we will explore how researchers can navigate these changes.
At a high level, social media is no longer only a peripheral tool for academic work and networking. It is increasingly central to discovery, communication, and collaboration. Nearly four in five researchers (78%) use social platforms to discover research content and news, making it the single most important activity across all regions and career stages.
Yet where, and how, this happens is shifting.
A concentrated yet fragmented landscape
Despite the proliferation of platforms, a few key players now dominate. ResearchGate (78%) and LinkedIn (62%) remain the core work platforms, functioning as anchors for professional identity, networking and discovery.
At the same time, more informal channels are rising. WhatsApp, in particular, has seen explosive growth, now used by 47% of researchers for work and increasingly for collaboration, sharing research, and promoting one’s findings. A surprising development, and the platform seeing the greatest gain in the last year for work use (+22pp (percentage points) YoY), was YouTube (also at 47%), signalling the increase in video content as a dominant source of news. These spaces are quickly becoming key for informal knowledge exchange and learning.
This signals an important shift: academic exchange is no longer confined to formal platforms. Instead, it is happening across a mix of structured, format-diverse networks, and private, community-driven spaces. Regional differences further reinforce this fragmentation, with researchers in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East often relying more heavily on messaging platforms, while North America and Europe remain more selective.
The decline of shared public spaces
At the same time, some long-standing platforms are losing ground. The use of X (formerly Twitter) has dropped significantly (-10 pp YoY), alongside declining activity and engagement. The reasons are telling: researchers cite a loss of community, reduced relevance, and concerns about politicisation. When trust in the platform or its community erodes, researchers disengage.
“It is not just platform features that matter - it is the quality of the community and the trust within it. The decline of what was once known as “Academic Twitter” reflects a broader shift in platform dynamics. Publisher’s need to respond to these changes and maintain a strong presence where their audience is and ensure that trusted knowledge is amplified amid the increasing polarisation”.
Tina Harseim, Director of Social Media and Employer Brand at Springer Nature
Trust and misinformation: a growing barrier
Perhaps the most important finding is the growing impact of trust on researcher behaviour. Two-thirds of respondents agree that untrustworthy content reduces how much they rely on social media for research discovery.
This has clear implications. Social media remains essential for the academic discourse - over 75% believe it will become increasingly important for science communication - but it is also contested. Researchers are actively filtering what they see, where they engage, and what they share. Almost half also report hesitating to participate due to concerns about negative or hostile responses.
Community as the foundation of impact
In this environment, community is emerging as the defining factor for success. Platforms that thrive - whether ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Bluesky or WhatsApp - do so because they enable meaningful connections: sharing papers, discussing methods, and building relationships.
"Nearly two years ago, we started on Bluesky to build a community that does exactly this. Since then, we have seen steadily increasing engagement and higher-quality conversations that reflect what we experienced on X a decade ago. However, achieving the same reach remains more challenging in today’s increasingly fragmented social media landscape"
Tina Harseim, Director of Social Media and Employer Brand at Springer Nature
Importantly, community is not just about engagement; it is about authenticity and therefore increased trust. Researchers are more likely to participate in spaces where content is credible, discussion is constructive, and professional norms are upheld.
What this means for researchers
For researchers and the wider academic community, the takeaway is clear: social media still offers enormous value, but only when used intentionally.
Go where your community is: platform choice matters less than who is there
Prioritise trust over reach: credible engagement beats visibility alone
Contribute with purpose: as short-form, algorithm-driven content competes for attention, thoughtful, evidence-based contributions matter more than ever. Community quality is shaped by participation
In an age of misinformation, visibility alone is not enough. The real opportunity lies in cultivating trusted communities; spaces where research can not only be discovered, but understood, debated, and advanced.
Because ultimately, the future of social media in science communication will not be defined by platforms, but by the quality of the communities we build within them.
The data from this survey has been made open access for anyone who would like to use it. You can find it on Figshare here.
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Tina Harseim, Director of Social Media and Employer Brand at Springer Nature
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Author: Laura Graham-Clare
Laura Graham-Clare is Director of Community Content, based in London. With a passion for sharing knowledge and amplifying community insight and expertise, she leads a team that collaborates with academic communities to create content that truly supports their roles.
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