UConn study catalogues how three women astronauts blend science and personal life on Instagram

Steinke's summary of the result is careful about what the team saw. "Our major finding was that these three science influencers were strategic in the way they framed messages on Instagram, not only to communicate scientific information, and hopefully to foster public interest and engagement in STEMM, but also to build their own personal brands and expand their audiences on Instagram," she said ^[7]. The word "hopefully" is attached to the audience effect. The finding itself concerns intent and framing, which a content analysis can observe: the researchers asked which topics the astronauts chose, how they framed them and which tactics they used to draw attention ^[5].

The denominator is three accounts and 194 posts, about 65 per astronaut on average ^[1]. All three are science influencers as well as astronauts ^[1]. Every post in the sample came from the months after a Virgin Galactic research mission was announced with all three as its crew ^[3]. Their feeds paired training, microgravity experiments and explanations of scientific phenomena with stories of the people and setbacks on their way to STEMM ^[9]. People with a flight to publicise may post differently from the same people in an ordinary year. A comparison set, such as male astronauts' accounts over the same months, would show whether the personal framing belongs to these women or to anyone in a mission run-up.

For outreach planners, the tactics are the easiest part to reuse. The posts used short videos, photo carousels, text laid over images, trending music and pop culture; Taylor Swift, David Bowie and Charli xcx turn up, and Gerardi calls herself a "bratstronaut" ^[13].

The phys.org account opens on a post in which Gerardi's six-year-old daughter asked why a flight jacket couldn't be pink or purple, then smiled and pointed when her mother appeared on TV in a bright pink one ^[11]. The write-up says the exchange conveys that femininity and scientific credibility are not mutually exclusive ^[12]. Whether viewers trust Gerardi's science more, less or about the same after seeing it is a separate question about the audience. The method as published examines the posts alone ^[4], and the account reports no measure of how viewers responded ^[5]. Answering it would take an experiment: show matched groups the same microgravity clip with and without the personal framing, then ask how expert the presenter seems.

Steinke goes further on influence. "By sharing their experiences with their audiences, they can indeed serve as influential role models for future generations and inspire girls to consider potentially being an astronaut in the future," she said ^[14]. The coded posts fit that hypothesis without testing it. I think the coding establishes the deliberate strategy well. The role-model effect, and any gain in credibility, need a design that includes the audience.