LOVED this post, thanks so much for sharing. I think an interesting part about the science blog audience is also that it seems more interactive. Sure there are far less viewers from the general population, but those who are reading seem to be more actively involved in the conversation, and often I learn more in the comments section than the original post. I think this is one of the great strengths about blog or forum style science posts (in comparison to peer reviewed journals and conferences). Questions and thoughts can be given by other scientists, engineers, and mathematicians from around the world who all have different backgrounds. As someone very new to the space, I have been only recently discovering how amazing places like Steemit are for finding new information.
You bring up a lot of questions that I have been thinking about. Particularly I think finding the balance between technical & informative versus easily digestible & widely applicable is especially difficult. I receive feedback on posts from people who want to go more in depth and others who wish for less terminology and technicalities.
Yes, precisely. And what you are describing is one of steemit's true strengths. It is able to create that community atmosphere where further learning, interaction, etc can happen in the comment sections. People are here not just for science like they would be at a traditional blog, but also to look at photos, cooking, politics, a whole host of topics.
But the science content here is legit, so they can also stop by and engage in the comments on popular articles, they can learn new things, get exposed to new information.
You are certainly right. Steemit provide a great road system by which users can travel from one subject or topic to the next. It helps to eliminate the walls that divide health and psychology and chemistry (or any other interrelated fields) and helps facilitate wider content consumption.
I think that SteemSTEM is a great microcosm of this observation, an ecosystem within an ecosystem bringing different minds together.
:)
But is it helping to eliminate the walls that divide health and psychology from say cooking and travel? That is what we need to achieve, and if we are not, what can we change to start making inroads there?
I think that it does, but in a different way. I, for example am planning on posting my travel and politics related content on this account. Thereby all of followers will be exposed to that content, and the other commenters who might have come from #travel. In this way, the users who cross multiple fields will expose their followers to those subjects. But, you do have a point that we should look for other ways to promote cross subject exposure.