# Citizen Science on Twitter: Using Data Analytics to Understand Conversations and Networks
## 8 Discussions
What behaviours do microblogging citizen science communities exhibit?_  
We have also observed different types of behaviours when citizens interact with citizen science and crowdsourcing topics on Twitter. A majority of the discussions centred around retweeting and posting additional comments, replying or adding supporting statements to original tweets. Our observations also indicate users often acting primarily as broadcasters or receivers, with some few organisations engaging in broadcasting and receiving high number of tweets. We observe these users as influencers, who help relay information to wider audiences. Much of the citizen science related discussions are spread via these influencers, who have strong networks of users following them. Interestingly,we have also observed bot-behaviour where Tweets seem automatically generated and disseminated to networks. In addition to studying themes and user behaviour, a broader exploration of the data identified several purposes why users engaged on Twitter within the topic of citizen science and crowdsourcing. While we have not encountered a study specific to the field of citizen science, we note other studies who have identified these behaviours, albeit within other contexts:  
* **Information/Resource seeking--**we observed examples which highlighted crowdsourcing in action--where users share requests for information regarding specific areas, looking for recommendations, suggestions or relevant people. Other studies have also highlighted information and resource seeking as a motivator for users to link up on Twitter [85]. Twitter was also observed to be used as a platform for raising funds [86] to fulfil personal, social or financial ambitions. * **Promotions and Advertisements--**the use of Twitter as a way to promote destinations [87], organisations [88], software platforms, individuals or even citizen science platforms was interesting. Particularly interesting was the sharing of information that related with topics of public interest such as politics or societal issues. * **Dissemination of news or personal opinions--**large number users on Twitter were observed to share current topics and news items, particularly ones where crowdsourcing was used/being used to address issues of public interest. It was also interesting to see technologies (e.g., blockchain, decentralized networks, data platforms) being widely discussed and shared [89]. * **Broadcasting/Livecasting--**some users (particularly, influencers) were observed to be broadcasting information such as ecological/natural observations submitted by users. Given that the data collection was seeded around a public event, with some other events being picked up, it was observed that several users were live tweeting [90] about public events they would be attending/engaging with. * **Engagement with members of the public--**some users were observed to host live sessions to engage with the public to provide expert analysis or answers to technical topics [91]. This was an interesting use of Twitter to help engage with a large number of users who may want to have a better understanding of some topics. _RQ4. How can citizen science project owners leverage this understanding to increase their presence on microblogging platforms?_  
While this paper does not attempt to cover the depth of the material already available on social media engagement strategies and best practices [21] ([[https://www.deirdrebreakenridge.com/the-science-of-the-tweet-the-dos-and-donts-for-scicomm-on-twitter/](https://www.deirdrebreakenridge.com/the-science-of-the-tweet-the-dos-and-donts-for-scicomm-on-twitter/)]([https://www.deirdrebreakenridge.com/the-science-of-the-tweet-the-dos-and-donts-for-scicomm-on-twitter/](https://www.deirdrebreakenridge.com/the-science-of-the-tweet-the-dos-and-donts-for-scicomm-on-twitter/))), we believe the observations can help stakeholders (primarily project owners and managers) understand how to use social media, particularly within the context of citizen science and crowdsourcing.