Volume 6, Issue 2

In this, our Spring 2015 issue, we’ve done some Spring cleaning with a brand new redesign, as well as the latest cancer prevention research, with evidence linking liver cancer to body weight, challenging interventions within an obese society, “Children’s Charter” to work towards a tobacco free generation, and more. Scroll down for this issue’s editorial, or read the whole thing right below.
 
Click here to download this issue as a PDF.
 

Editorial

Keeping Updated

 
“Social sharing is powerful enough to topple dictators and profitable enough to merit multi-billion dollar investments”
 
We have no problem finding interesting topics to publish in the newsletters and present at the annual SCPN conference and we are delighted with feedback that tells us that our communications have alerted members to new research and introduced new angles on old stories.
 
However, we have to confess that we don’t spend hours trawling websites for ideas, what we actually do is spend between 5 and 10 minutes a day on twitter. We have no doubt that our twitter feeds are as important as our journal alerts to keeping us up to date and are a key part of communicating research and good practice ideas.
 
We are busy people but twitter now fits into our daily priority actions. We would like to encourage readers to join up now to access this fast approach to information updating.
 
We still meet many researchers and professionals who do not tweet and frequently ask three main questions, so let us share these with you.
 

What do you find so useful on twitter?
 
Research findings (full reports available when link is tweeted), latest guidelines, seminars, conferences, grant opportunities, ongoing research (not yet published), info on practical activities (physical activity, food, community based programmes), creative actions taken by creative people to change lifestyles, campaigns.
 
Who are the first people/groups to follow that are really useful for anyone new to twitter who is interested in cancer prevention?
 
@thescpn (ofcourse), @wcrf_uk, @aicrtweets (cancer prevention)
@exerciseworks, @docandrewmurray @nanettemutrie (physical activity)
@debbieprovan @foodtoglow (nutrition, food)
@shaapalcohol @ashscotland (alcohol, smoking)
@scphrp (scottish public health)
@scotgovhealth
 
How do you find the time to craft messagesof 140 characters?
We spend much less time tweeting than reading tweets, in fact you can simply be a reader. Once you start composing tweets it comes easily and it’s adding the links (reports/events/photos) that make it especially worthwhile.

 
Basically you can create your own small group of people that interest you and their news is brought directly to you – no need to look up their website or search on google.
 
For researchers, the reach of twitter is potentially far greater than Research Gate or other channels. If you want your work disseminated widely why not tweet about it?
 
Professor Annie S. Anderson
@anniescotta
 
Professor Bob Steele
@BobSteele6