The new information / communication system of the INGV towards the press as a tool for correct scientific dissemination and against fake news

INGV carries out, among other activities, seismic and volcanic monitoring of the Italian territory.

One of the main focus of the Institute is to widely disseminate information on research in these subject fields, with the aim of raising public awareness of issues that affect everyone's life.Despite the use of a simplified scientific language, the transmission of this kind of information has often proved difficult even for the specialized public of press operators who, if not experts in the subjects treated by INGV, tend not to consider the information transmitted and, consequently, not to convey it on their press organs.Therefore, in order to improve information for the press and the public, the INGV has developed a constant communication system through the use of social networks. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp represent a reality in which INGV is a constant actor of scientific information in geosciences.Different languages ​​have been developed for the different communication channels: the Twitter limit of 280 characters, for example, forces the use of simple but exhaustive verbal forms for the scientific concepts.In addition to the thematic channels that strictly refer to the subjects of the "Earthquakes", "Volcanoes" and "Environment" Departments, the INGV has developed institutional channels that concern the body's activities as a whole. These channels are managed by the Press Office which, among other things, performs the functions of the Public Relations Office, a real institutional "front office" of Italian public institutions.Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp are the social networks used for the institutional communication and are mainly managed by the Institute's Press Office (with the precision that the Twitter channel refers to the President of the INGV and identifies itself as @ingv_president ).The constant information produced on social networks has created an await for our "news" and a feeling of esteem from the public: this has given rise to a spontaneous "defense curb" towards the sporadic phenomenon of the "haters" and / or of fake scientists who have tried to use the comments tool on the social networks of INGV to get their own visibility. The purpose of the document we want to present is to illustrate how the smart communication flows towards the press and general public, through the constant use of social media, have produced a numerically increased and increasingly positive diffusion of the INGV brand in the press and in user re-posts. This has led to the spread of accredited scientific news in geoscience subjects, in contrast to fake authors and fake news.This type of communication is very useful in the context of particularly sensitive issues (such as in highly seismic or volcanic territories) where false authors easily spread alarmist news.