If you’re not familiar with #BugsR4Girls, I (Morgan) started it to help support Sophia after she was bullied for liking insects. Last year, her mother wrote to us at the Entomological Society of Canada seeking some advice for encouraging her interest in science. I shared her request on Twitter (via @CanEntomologist), and it went viral. The online entomological community responded with hundreds of offers to connect with Sophia and talk to her about entomology. Last month, we revisited this experience with an article in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America’s special collection on science communication. We explore the responses to the tweet, within Twitter and in the larger media landscape, and what they mean for entomology, scientific societies using social media, and the promotion of women in science, and provide recommendations for increasing engagement on social media to improve representation of science. But perhaps the best part is that Sophia co-authored the article, offering her perspective in her own words—making her the first 8-year-old to ever be published in the 110-year-old Annals of the ESA. And now, once again, Sophia’s story and #BugsR4Girls are spreading on social media and in the news, inspiring young aspiring scientists far and wide.
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