Research is usually evaluated through its in-put, output and impact. While the latter is very expensive in terms of time (a paper or patent publication can take years to be published), it can easily be measured through journals metrics, citations, grants, and conference presentations. Societal impact of research, on the contrary, is the most difficult concept to capture and that is why, in the past, it was considered only in terms of effect within the scientific community. Nowadays, the ubiquitous social media platforms have been increasingly studied in search of new indicators for measuring the immediate impact of research. In this study I explore linking practices and reactions to scientific output as they are posted on Twitter. Through the qualitative analysis of one Twitter conversation dynamic about a topic of public interest and the comparison with quantitative analysis of individual tweets on similar topics, I searched for what makes a tweet about research more discussed within the scientific community and what makes it more successful in terms of societal impact by arousing citizens’ awareness, increasing their critical thinking and promoting their engagement. The results showed that engaging in conversations, specially in argumentation, increase the public benefits of science.