Astronomers Taking Advantage of the Web

Every January it takes me some time getting used to writing the new year. But '2013' seems particularly futuristic. I can just see Heinlein writing, 'It was the year two thousand and thirteen...'

Oh, what Henrietta Leavitt could have understood about our Universe with the technology we have access to today! But, how do you think she and others would have used today's social media for professional development, networking, and creating career opportunities?

As we look to this new year and how we can best utilize this blog to connect with and help our community, I first want to look back to 2012 and learn from you all.

How have you used social media (twitter, blogs, facebook, etc.) for professional development, networking, and, in general, furthering your career? 

Below are a few stats for this WiA blog. But stats are one thing and impact is another.

Has this blog been useful for you? How? What would you recommend we improve for this coming year? 

WiA Blog Stats for 2012:

• Total views: 75,780
• Avg daily views: ~200
• Most views of single post: 1910 (though just this week [in 2013], Jessica's post on transitioning to being a data scientist was picked up by Hacker News and has over 5000 views!). 
• Growth in monthly views: 2438 views in January 2012 --> 9204 views in December 2012
• Highest monthly view: 10,082
• Common referring sites: google, facebook, astrobetter, networkedBlogs, news.ycombinator.com, aas.org/cswa

Post Topics (not an exhaustive list):

• Mentoring
• Role Models
• Work-Life Balance
• Parenting and STEM
• Culture and Climate, for the individual, at the department level, and as a community
• Family Leave Policies, national survey on graduate student and postdoc policies
• Jobs: proposal, interview, and negotiation advice
• Advice for and examples of transitioning to non-academic and/or non-astronomy careers
• Examples of and advice for high impact outreach
• Unconscious Bias
• Impostor Syndrome
• Stereotype Threat
• Bullying
• Sexual Harassment
• Affirmative Action
• NSF Career-Life Initiative, Policy recommendation
• National Research Council, Policy recommendation with CSMA
• AASWomen Weekly Newsletter Re-posts