It’s hard to deny the importance of social media among the younger generations in the United States today. Most of us hardly go a day without checking Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. This obsession that we have with social media gives the medium a huge amount of power that many groups, communities or organizations can take advantage of. 

When it comes to the scientific community’s presence on social media, Bill Nye “the Science Guy” seems to be the most prolific representative. It seems that Nye has made it his personal mission to connect to the young people in the U.S. Nye has frequently stated that he does not want the U.S. to raise a generation of scientifically illiterate children. Nye believes that the key to the U.S. remaining the dominant power in the world is for the children of the country to remain interested in science. I think that Nye sees the opportunity created through social media to reach the American youth. Nye is a frequent tweeter on Twitter and currently has more than 2.4 million followers. He tweets almost every day, which raises his celebrity status and therefore makes him an idol for youth. 

Nye’s posts are almost always about science in one way or another, so his tweets also seem to make science cool. The Science Guy uses multiple  resources on social media in order to connect with a younger audience, including a weekly video on Big Think’s channel on YouTube called “Tuesdays with Bill.” Nye’s pursuit to connect with a younger audience is a noble cause and a much-needed one in today’s world. Nye is right to suggest that it is important for the power and influence of this country for U.S. children to be scientifically literate. Even today in the 21st century, the threat to scientific literacy and the importance of evidence is real. 

You may recall last year when Bill Nye debated Ken Ham, a creationist who believes that the earth is 6,000 years old. While this may seem like a ridiculous idea, it is somehow given a lot of credit in the U.S., and it is a real threat to scientific literacy. There are people who want things like creationism taught in public schools, which is of course a danger to scientific literacy. Nye’s role in situations like this is trying to represent the scientific community and show the value of the scientific method, as well as the use of evidence. 

This is why it is such a great thing that Nye uses methods like social media to connect to the youth in the U.S. By making science cool and understandable and by making kids want to learn science, he is protecting the future of the U.S. — and probably the world — because those kids have the ability to learn the beauty and usefulness of the scientific method. The use of social media is key to connect Nye and scientists like him to the youth. He is using it effectively, and he is not alone.