Leading up to our first ScienceOnlineSoCal event October 22nd, we’re featuring posts about and from our panelists. I had the chance to speak to Suzanne Kennedy (@suzyscientist) about her experience writing on the MO BIO blog, The Culture Dish.
Besides being MO BIO‘s R&D Director, Suzanne is a veteran blogger, having also written for Bitesize Bio since ’07. The MO BIO blog was started in September ’09 and they post about twice a month. The topics include technical tips, news, events, interviews, and product information. The company, founded in 1993 and located in Carlsbad, specializes in products for DNA/RNA extraction and purification. Suzanne said that they’ve found blog posts with technical tips are the most popular. In posts where products are featured, MO BIO does a great job of adding value by including application information as well.
I asked Suzanne about the benefits of the blog to MO BIO, and at this point she started talking so fast I couldn’t keep up with my notes. She said they get a lot of positive feedback from customers about the blog. In addition, she thinks they get more interactions with customers who might have been intimidated to contact her before. She said that the blog ‘opens a door’ of communication between the scientists who help develop the products and the researchers who use them. These scientist-scientist connections are mutually beneficial as customers may be able to help shape products by expressing their needs or by beta testing early versions of products.
Suzanne also said that scientists also look to her for help on topics outside of the scope of MO BIO’s products, if she posts tips in a certain area. To me, this fact is a sign that researchers are more hungry for help online than ever, and ScienceOnline connections are more becoming more important. Join us October 22nd to help us build these bridges!
