Writing is the most common form of science communication, and as writing is already a part of scientific research it is often the most natural place for a scientist who wishes to communicate to a more general audience. If you are interested in starting to write about science one of the outlets with the lowest barrier to entry is called The Conversation, a website that features articles written by researchers, academics, and PhD candidates. You can apply to write for The Conversation here. If you have already whetted your appetite and want to dig deeper into writing about science, you can find out more about Who are Science Writers? from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and about all the steps of science writing from pitching to publishing from the National Association of Science Writers.
If a less formal style of writing is more your style you can also think about starting a science blog. Before you start your blog it would be worth your while to go out into the internet and see what is already out there, the Scientific American Blog Network and ScienceBlogs are good places to start. Once you have a sense of what is possible and have decided to start your own blog Science Blogging: The Essential Guide and Academic Blogging Toolbox are good resources to get off the ground.
As you continue forward in your science writing the National Association of Science Writers and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing can offer community, support, and professional development opportunities.
Science video is a huge, and still growing, segment of the science communication ecosystem. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of YouTube channels serving up science videos to the public right now. Videos have a clear benefit over writing, in that you can show off your experiment or a cool reaction or the growth of a network, but they require specialized equipment and software and a whole lot of practice that, unlike writing, many scientists do not get in their day to day. Just as with writing, before making the jump into the world of making your own science videos it is important to take a look at what already exists. SciShow, Minute Physics, and Numberphile are three very popular Science and Mathematics YouTube channels that are very different in styles and approach, and if you want more examples just search for your scientific area and YouTube will provide.
Once you have decided making science videos is for you, the article What makes a popular science video on YouTube from The Conversation will provide great insight into both how to make a quality show and how to create a channel people will want to watch. Then, if you are looking for more information about how to actual make video there are a ton of video production tutorials on the internet, here is a list of 20 to get started .
As for actually making a video the University of Michigan provides many resources. There is the reservable Personal Video Studio at the Duderstat, the Multimedia Production Rooms at the Shapiro Design lab, equipment rental, and a full-fledged video studio (also at the Duderstat) for larger projects.
Just as social media is inescapable for people living in the highly connected world of the internet, it has become inseparable in the world of science too. There has even been an analysis of scientist's twitter accounts published in PLOS ONE and research published in the open-access journal FACETS claims scientists have the "potential to disseminate scientific information widely" via social media.
While there is science communication which takes place on all social networks, the dominant platform at the moment is Twitter. There is a huge spectrum of science content on Twitter, as a quick look at the hashtag #science shows. The Facets article mentioned above includes a great list of reasons why Twitter can be useful for scientists: "describe it as a means to stay abreast of new scientific literature, grant opportunities, and science policy, to promote their own published papers and exchange ideas, and to participate in conferences they cannot attend in person". Bailey DeBarmore has also put together a very informative set of slides with examples about why you should use Twitter for science communication, as well as a detailed guide for how to set up your science communication twitter account. Sara K. Yeo from the University of Utah has als
For a more how-to on actually using social media, the Union of Concerned Scientists has published a video of their webinar, "Social Media for Scientists: Science Communication for the Web" featuring presentations from science communicators on how they use social media. The AAAS has also weighed in with a white paper about communicating science on the internet from Sara K. Yeo from the University of Utah which include SciComm social media best practices
Twitter is also a great place to observe, or take part in, the science communication current conversation. All you need to do is follow, and use, the hashtag #scicomm to see what the Twitter science communicators are saying. That said there are also downsides to using social media, particularly for scientists who work in areas which have become cultural hotspots such as climate science and vaccines. Scientists have been doxxed and threatened on social media when their work contradicts the beliefs of some activist groups. If you want to take part in social media but are worried issues such as this could happen to you, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a comprehensive guide to for safer online communications which offers many practical and specific steps you can take to protect yourself online and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund has a guide to your potential legal responses to such harassment.
Audio is the least explored medium for science communication, but thanks to the podcasting boom it is starting to see more action recently. There are now examples of deeply reported stories from shows like Undiscovered, experts sharing their knowledge in shows like Cosmic Vertigo, personal storytelling from shows like Story Collider, numerous shows featuring interviews with scientists such as Ologies, and many other styles too.
If you decide to try your hand at science communication via audio, a great first step is to read through this guide Preparing a Science Podcast which walks you through the steps of making a podcast from pre-production to final product. COMPASS's What Makes a Great Radio Interview is also a great resource for scientists who are looking to communicate science via audio as an interviewer or interviewee. If you are looking for tips about audio production or have questions about what type of equipment to use Transom is an indispensable resource used by audio professionals the world over.
The University of Michigan offers many resources which can help with your audio production. There is a podcasting guide, the Shapiro Design Lab offers consulting for your podcast project and it has a podcast studio you can schedule, there is equipment you can rent, and the Dudterstat center has high end audio facilitates than can be used as well.