That comment was made yesterday by Otago Centre for Science Communication lecturer Dr Jenny Rock, one of the authors of the study.
The study surveyed 587 scientists from 31 countries and was published yesterday in the international journal Plos One.
This was the first study of its kind to survey scientists on their attitudes towards social media and show how they used such media to communicate their research, including with each other, study organisers said.
The research was led by Otago graduate Kimberley Collins, Dr Rock, and marine biologist David Shiffman, of Miami University.
A high proportion of the scientists surveyed made considerable use of social media, including Twitter, but the paper noted scientists, overall, made relatively limited use of social media for work purposes.
One earlier survey of academic scholars in the US and UK found only 3% used Twitter.
US-born Dr Rock said there was a growing "groundswell" for researchers to make more use of social media, which was a "brilliant" way of making science more accessible for the public.
Even brief social media communications, perhaps accompanied by an appealing image, could act as a "signpost", attracting wide community interest, and "pointing" elsewhere, perhaps to an internet site, where more detailed information was available.
Ms Collins, who undertook the research for her Otago master of science communication degree thesis, said scientists mainly used social media in their work to communicate with professional colleagues.
But there were "quite exciting" opportunities to communicate with the wider community.
Universities and other tertiary institutions could provide more resources to encourage and train research staff to tap the wider potential of social media, she said.