Finance

Sociology

Business

Salient

Political science

Position (finance)

Public relations

Social media

Media studies

Social Networking

Twitter is a tool for strengthening research knowledge mobilization to the general public. In this article, we highlight how Twitter can be used to open social dialogue about research related topics between users from multiple perspectives, using the topic of weight bias; a cultural issue largely perpetuated by the media. Specifically, Twitter (@UCalgary Body BS) was used by an interdisciplinary research team to under line cases of global news, stories, and policy related to weight bias and/or weight-related issues for a broad audience to consume. We position Twitter as a relevant means for 1) shaping the research lifecycle, 2) increasing community participation and engagement regarding specific research topics, 3) co-creating evolving social dialogues and critique, 4) reaching broader audiences, 5) opening up sites of debate and tension within a topic, and 6) engaging with a topic salient within our society, a topic that saturates the media—weight bias.

Weight Bias: Twitter as a Tool for Opening Dialogue among Broad Audiences