21st century grapevine

A small proportion of my peers consider social media as a waste of time or simply an outlet for random, mundane ramblings. The truth is, social media, particularly social networking platforms, are advantageous in propagating valuable information and insight to others, apart from the obvious advantage of being the recipient of such information and insights.  Self-publication of "persons of authority" should not be a turn off, but should be considered as admirable and bold since these individuals allow themselves to be vulnerable to immediate critique through comments or "@s" (in social media parlance). Scientists are now taking advantage of this medium to disseminate research and studies in real time even prior to publication in scientific journals.  Bora Zivkovic (@BoraZ on Twitter) who is the blogs editor at Scientific American recently tweeted, "...it is not the platform to trust, it is the people one trusts platform-agnostic. Follow the best on T, FB, G+ and blogs."