As far as public communication goes, many of the arguments could equally be used to encourage people to participate in other kinds of “digital outreach”. For example, working on Wikipedia articles under WikiProject:Astronomy, or asking and answering questions on Astronomy.SE or with the astro(nomy/physics) tags on Quora.
Social Media for Scientists Part 4: On The Road
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2012/03/01/social-media-for-scientists-part-4-on-the-road/
@astrobetter sciam soc media posts http://t.co/bYKNQGOg are all about outreach. Twitter and blogs are tools for research too (or instead!).
As far as public communication goes, many of the arguments could equally be used to encourage people to participate in other kinds of “digital outreach”. For example, working on Wikipedia articles under WikiProject:Astronomy, or asking and answering questions on Astronomy.SE or with the astro(nomy/physics) tags on Quora.