The use and impact of Twitter at medical conferences: Best practices and Twitter etiquette

Impact of a New Gynecologic Oncology Hashtag During Virtual-Only ASCO Annual Meetings: An X (Twitter) Social Network Analysis

Background

Official conference hashtags are commonly used to promote tweeting and social media engagement. The reach and impact of introducing a new hashtag during an oncology conference have yet to be studied. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conducts an annual global meeting, which was entirely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Objective

This study aimed to assess the reach and impact (in the form of vertices and edges generated) and X (formerly Twitter) activity of the new hashtags #goASCO20 and #goASCO21 in the ASCO 2020 and 2021 virtual conferences.

Methods

New hashtags (#goASCO20 and #goASCO21) were created for the ASCO virtual conferences in 2020 and 2021 to help focus gynecologic oncology discussion at the ASCO meetings. Data were retrieved using these hashtags (#goASCO20 for 2020 and #goASCO21 for 2021). A social network analysis was performed using the NodeXL software application.

Results

The hashtags #goASCO20 and #goASCO21 had similar impacts on the social network. Analysis of the reach and impact of the individual hashtags found #goASCO20 to have 150 vertices and 2519 total edges and #goASCO20 to have 174 vertices and 2062 total edges. Mentions and tweets between 2020 and 2021 were also similar. The circles representing different users were spatially arranged in a more balanced way in 2021. Tweets using the #goASCO21 hashtag received significantly more responses than tweets using #goASCO20 (75 times in 2020 vs 360 times in 2021; z value=16.63 and P<.001). This indicates increased engagement in the subsequent year.

Conclusions

Introducing a gynecologic oncology specialty-specific hashtag (#goASCO20 and #goASCO21) that is related but different from the official conference hashtag (#ASCO20 and #ASCO21) helped facilitate discussion on topics of interest to gynecologic oncologists during a virtual pan-oncology meeting. This impact was visible in the social network analysis.

Social media use and patient ratings in shoulder and elbow surgeons: how many "likes" for five stars?

BACKGROUND

Social media plays an important role in healthcare and physician selection by facilitating direct communication with patients and impacting physician ratings. A concern however is the increased online scrutiny and negative impact on patient satisfaction with these connections. This study aimed to investigate whether social media activity by fellowship-trained shoulder and elbow surgeons impacts patient's perceptions and ratings on physician review websites (PRWs).

METHODS

The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons physician directory was used to identify currently practicing shoulder and elbow surgeons in the United States. Physician ratings were collected from Healthgrades, Google reviews, and Vitals. The surgeons were divided into two groups: social media users (SMU) and non- SMU (NSMU). The association of social media use with online physician ratings was evaluated using simple and multilinear regressions.

RESULTS

A total of 385 American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons surgeons were included and 21.3% were SMU. SMU were younger (mean age, 48 years) compared to NSMU (mean age, 51 years) (P = .01), all other demographics were comparable including sex (P = .797), medical degree (P = .114), and geographic location within the United States (P = .49). SMU had significantly higher ratings on Healthgrades (P < .001) and Vitals (P < .001). However, social media use did not impact the total number of ratings on PRWs. Additionally, surgeons who utilized Facebook had higher physician ratings and number of website reviews on Healthgrades (P = .028 and P = .014, respectively). In addition, surgeons who used Twitter had higher ratings on Healthgrades (P < .001) and Vitals (P = .001). Surgeons with a greater average number of likes per post on Twitter had significantly higher average ratings across all three sites (P = .004). Surgeons with a greater number of Twitter followers and greater average number of likes per post had significantly higher average ratings on Healthgrades (P = .052 and P = .005, respectively) while surgeons with a greater average number of likes per post had significantly higher average ratings on Vitals (P = .006). Finally, surgeons with a greater average posting frequency on Instagram had significantly higher average ratings across all websites (P = .029).

CONCLUSION

Shoulder and elbow surgeons who use Twitter and Facebook had significantly higher online ratings. However, the increased use of these platforms in terms of postcontent, postfrequency, comments, and number of followers was not as influential on PRWs. This suggests that social media is an important marketing and outreach method for orthopedic surgeons to improve their ratings and patient reviews.

The Future of Social Media, Anesthesiology, and the Perioperative Physician

Social media has rapidly developed in the past decade to become a powerful and influential force for patients, physicians, health systems, and the academic community. While the use of social media in health care has produced many positive changes, such as rapid dissemination of information, crowd-sourced sharing of knowledge, learning, and social interaction, social media in health care has also negative effects. Recent examples of negative impacts of social media include rapid and unchecked information dissemination leading to patient misinformation and inadvertent reputational harm for health care professionals due to engaging in controversial topics on public platforms. Members of the anesthesiology community, like other medical specialties, have rapidly adopted social media at many different levels. However, most anesthesiologists, health systems, and academic communities have little education, preparation, and guidelines on optimizing the use of social media technology while minimizing the risks of social media. Anesthesiology has been and will continue to be impacted by the forces of technology and the cultural influences of social media for the foreseeable future. The purpose of this article was to examine the recent history of social media adoption in anesthesiology and perioperative medicine, understand the current impact of social media across our specialty, and consider how the future development of technology and evolving social and cultural dynamic influences of social media will have on anesthesiology over the next quarter century.

The relation between social media mentions and academic citations in orthodontic journals: A preliminary study

BACKGROUND

To study the relation between social media mentions and academic citations for articles published in peer-reviewed orthodontic journals.

METHODS

Articles published in early 2018 in seven peer-reviewed orthodontic journals were retrospectively analyzed in September 2022. Citation counts of the articles were evaluated using two databases: Google Scholar (GS) and Web of Science (WoS). The Altmetric Attention Score, Twitter, Facebook mentions, and Mendeley reads were tracked using the Altmetric Bookmarklet. The citation counts and social media mentions were correlated using Spearman rho.

RESULTS

A total of 84 articles were identified during the initial search; 64 (76%) were original studies and systematic review articles and included in the analysis. A total of 38% of the articles had at least one mention on social media. Over the study period, the average number of citations of the articles mentioned on social media was higher than the non-mentioned articles for GS and WoS, respectively. Moreover, significant positive correlations existed between the Altmetric Attention Score and the number of citations in GS and WoS (r_s = 0.31, P = 0.001 and r_s = 0.26, P = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Social media mentions and citations of articles published in peer-reviewed orthodontic journals are correlated, with a clear difference in the number of citations in articles mentioned on social media versus those not mentioned, indicating possible increased reach of articles disseminated on social media.

Social Media in Hip Arthroscopy Is an Underused Resource That Enhances Physician Online Reputation

Purpose

To analyze the impact of professional social media (SM) presence, activity level, and physician practice–specific variables on online ratings and rating frequency for hip arthroscopists across 3 leading physician review websites (PRWs).

Methods

The Arthroscopy Association of North America and American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine directories were queried to identify practicing hip arthroscopists. Physicians included were residency-trained surgeons practicing within the United States. Surgeon ratings, comments, and reviews were compiled from 3 PRWs (Google, Healthgrades, Vitals). Google searches assessed for professional Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts and demographic information. Surgeons were considered active if they posted the month before data collection. Logistical regression and a univariate model analyzed effects of demographic factors and other variables on SM use and PRW statistics.

Results

In total, 555 surgeons met inclusion criteria (93.2% male, 6.8% female); 41% had a professional SM account (27.4% Facebook, 24.3% Twitter, 12.1% Instagram). Few surgeons with SM actively posted (30.5% Facebook, 43.7% Twitter, 37.3% Instagram). Surgeons with any SM had significantly greater number of ratings on all review websites (P < .001). Linear regression revealed academic physicians had lower number of ratings (P = .002) and average ratings (P < .001). Instagram users had an average 12.4 more ratings. Surgeons more likely to use SM resided in greater population cities (990 vs 490 [per 1,000]) with higher surgeon density (3.3 vs 2.2).

Conclusions

Most hip arthroscopists have no professional SM, and fewer frequently post content. SM presence significantly increases the number of ratings on PRWs but does not affect overall rating. Surgeons using SM practice in more populous cities with more competition. Academic surgeons had fewer ratings and lower average ratings. A professional Instagram account can increase the number of online ratings.

Clinical Relevance

Understanding how SM presence affects an orthopaedic surgeon’s practice may provide information on how surgeons best connect with patients.

Netiquette for social media engagement for oncology professionals

Social media growth has revolutionized health care, facilitating user-friendly, rapid and global sharing of content. Within oncology, this allows for new frontiers in communication for cancer patients, caregivers and healthcare providers. As more physicians engage in online spaces, it is imperative that there are resources to assist in establishing a professional presence on social media. This article describes how to create a social media identity, best practices for engaging both in patient and caregiver spaces and professional communities, and how to address antagonistic and inappropriate behavior on social media with the goal of helping physicians develop an engaging, productive and enjoyable experience online.

Comprehensive analysis of Twitter usage during a major medical conference held virtually versus in-person

Background

Twitter has become one of the most important social media platforms in science communication. During scientific conferences, Twitter can facilitate the communication between audience and speakers present at the venue and can extend the reach of a conference to participants following along from home. To examine whether Twitter activity can serve as a surrogate parameter for attendance at the RSNA conferences in 2019 and in 2020, and to characterize changes in topics discussed due to the virtual character of the 2020 RSNA conference.

Methods

The Twitter API and R Studio were used to analyze the absolute number and frequency of tweets, retweets, and conference-related hashtags during the 2019 and 2020 RSNA conference. Topics of discussion were compared across years by visualizing networks of co-occurring hashtags.

Results

There was a 46% decrease in total tweets and a 39% decrease in individual Twitter users in 2020, mirroring a 43% decrease in registered attendees during the virtual conference. Hashtags related to social initiatives in radiology (e.g., “#radxx” and “#womeninradiology” for promoting women’s empowerment in radiology or “#pinksocks,” “#weareradiology” and “#diversityisgenius” for diversity in general) were less frequently used in 2020 than in 2019.

Conclusion

Twitter and congress attendance were highly related and interpersonal topics underwent less discussion during the virtual meeting. Overall engagement during the virtual conference in 2020 was lower compared to the in-person conference in 2019.

Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Despite the ubiquity of social media, the utilization and audience reach of this communication method by otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) residency programs has not been investigated.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the content posted to a popular social media platform (Twitter) by OHNS residency programs.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, we identified Twitter accounts for accredited academic OHNS residency programs. Tweets published over a 6-month period (March to August 2019) were extracted. Tweets were categorized and analyzed for source (original versus retweet) and target audience (medical versus layman). A random sample of 100 tweets was used to identify patterns of content, which were then used to categorize additional tweets. We quantified the total number of likes or retweets by health care professionals.

RESULTS

Of the 121 accredited programs, 35 (28.9%) had Twitter accounts. Of the 2526 tweets in the 6-month period, 1695 (67.10%) were original-content tweets. The majority of tweets (1283/1695, 75.69%) were targeted toward health care workers, most of which did not directly contain medical information (954/1283, 74.36%). These tweets contained information about the department's trainees and education (349/954, 36.6%), participation at conferences (263/954, 27.6%), and research publications (112/954, 11.7%). Two-thirds of all tweets did not contain medical information. Medical professionals accounted for 1249/1362 (91.70%) of retweets and 5616/6372 (88.14%) of likes on original-content tweets.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of Twitter usage by OHNS residency programs is for intra and interprofessional communication, and only a minority of tweets contain information geared toward the public. Communication and information sharing with patients is not the focus of OHNS departments on Twitter.

Elevating Twitter-Based Journal Club Discussions by Leveraging a Voice-Based Platform: #HemepathJC Meets Clubhouse

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Social media-based scientific journal clubs provide an opportunity to promote published literature to a broader audience and allow robust multi-disciplinary and inter-professional discussion. Hematopathology Journal Club (#HemepathJC) on Twitter has successfully conducted monthly sessions since November 2019, covering topics related to lymphoma and leukemia.

RECENT FINDINGS

To enhance connectivity, multitasking, and productivity, we present our experience of leveraging the voice-based platform Clubhouse concurrent with Twitter. The Twitter and Clubhouse partnership for #hemepathJC holds the potential to increase dissemination of scientific knowledge and further promote journal club format discussion.

Analysis of Cyberincivility in Posts by Health Professions Students: Descriptive Twitter Data Mining Study

BACKGROUND

Health professions students use social media to communicate with other students and health professionals, discuss career plans or coursework, and share the results of research projects or new information. These platforms allow students to share thoughts and perceptions that are not disclosed in formal education settings. Twitter provides an excellent window through which health professions educators can observe students' sociocultural and learning needs. However, despite its merits, cyberincivility on Twitter among health professions students has been reported. Cyber means using electronic technologies, and incivility is a general term for bad manners. As such, cyberincivility refers to any act of disrespectful, insensitive, or disruptive behavior in an electronic environment.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to describe the characteristics and instances of cyberincivility posted on Twitter by self-identified health professions students. A further objective of the study is to analyze the prevalence of tweets perceived as inappropriate or potentially objectionable while describing patterns and differences in the instances of cyberincivility posted by those users.

METHODS

We used a cross-sectional descriptive Twitter data mining method to collect quantitative and qualitative data from August 2019 to February 2020. The sample was taken from users who self-identified as health professions students (eg, medicine, nursing, dental, pharmacy, physician assistant, and physical therapy) in their user description. Data management and analysis were performed with a combination of SAS 9.4 for descriptive and inferential statistics, including logistic regression, and NVivo 12 for descriptive patterns of textual data.

RESULTS

We analyzed 20 of the most recent tweets for each account (N=12,820). A total of 639 user accounts were analyzed for quantitative analysis, including 280 (43.8%) medicine students and 329 (51.5%) nursing students in 22 countries: the United States (287/639, 44.9%), the United Kingdom (197/639, 30.8%), unknown countries (104/639, 16.3%), and 19 other countries (51/639, 8.0%). Of the 639 accounts, 193 (30.2%) were coded as having instances of cyberincivility. Of these, 61.7% (119/193), 32.6% (63/193), and 5.7% (11/193) belonged to students in nursing, medicine, and other disciplines, respectively. Among 502 instances of cyberincivility identified from 641 qualitative analysis samples, the largest categories were profanity and product promotion. Several aggressive or biased comments toward other users, politicians, or certain groups of people were also found.

CONCLUSIONS

Cyberincivility is a multifaceted phenomenon that must be considered in its complexity if health professions students are to embrace a culture of mutual respect and collaboration. Students' perceptions and reports of their Twitter experiences offer insights into behavior on the web and the evolving role of cyberspace, and potentially problematic posts provide opportunities for teaching digital professionalism. Our study indicates that there is a continued need to provide students with guidance and training regarding the importance of maintaining a professional persona on the web.

Next-Generation Scholarship: Rebranding Hematopathology Using Twitter: The MD Anderson Experience

Hematopathologists are witnessing very exciting times, as a new era of unsurpassed technological advances is unfolding exponentially, enhancing our understanding of diseases at the genomic and molecular levels. In the evolving field of precision medicine, our contributions as hematopathologists to medical practice are of paramount importance. Social media platforms such as Twitter have helped facilitate and enrich our professional  interactions and collaborations with others in our field and in other medical disciplines leading to a more holistic approach to patient care. These platforms also have created a novel means for instantaneous dissemination of new findings and recent publications, and are proving to be increasingly useful tools that can be harnessed to expand our knowledge and amplify our presence in the medical community. In this Editorial, we share our experience as hematopathologists with Twitter, and how we leveraged this platform to boost scholarly activities within and beyond our subspecialty, and as a powerful medium for worldwide dissemination of educational material and to promote our remote teaching activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tweeting from the Bench: Twitter and the Physician-Scientist Benefits and Challenges

Purpose of Review

Social media platforms such as Twitter are increasingly utilized to interact, collaborate, and exchange information within the academic medicine community. However, as Twitter begins to become formally incorporated into professional meetings, educational activities, and even the consideration of academic promotion, it is critical to better understand both the benefits and challenges posed by this platform.

Recent Findings

Twitter use is rising amongst healthcare providers nationally and internationally, including in the field of hematology and oncology. Participation on Twitter at national conferences such as the annual meetings of American Society of Hematology (ASH) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has steadily increased over recent years. Tweeting can be used advantageously to cultivate opportunities for networking or collaboration, promote one’s research and increase access to other’s research, and provide efficient means of learning and educating. However, given the novelty of this platform and little formal training on its use, concerns regarding patient privacy, professionalism, and equity must be considered.

Summary

These new technologies present unique opportunities for career development, networking, research advancement, and efficient learning. From “tweet ups” to Twitter journal clubs, physician-scientists are quickly learning how to capitalize on the opportunities that this medium offers. Yet caution must be exercised to ensure that the information exchanged is valid and true, that professionalism is maintained, that patient privacy is protected, and that this platform does not reinforce preexisting structural inequalities.

Internal Medicine Physicians and Social media: Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes

Objective

Increasing adoption of social media have revolutionized communications between individuals, groups, and organizations This research study was designed to assess the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of internal medicine physicians’ awareness and engagement with social media (sometimes referred to as #SoMe) within the digital landscape of healthcare delivery.

Methods

An audience-response survey focused on social media “Social media in Healthcare: Physician Survey,” was administered during the “A Systematic Approach to Medically Unexplained Symptoms” continuing medical education conference. The Conference took place between August 22, 2019 and August 24, 2019. Data was collected on August 23, 2019. A range of 103 (59.5%) to 112 (64.7%) of the total 173 attendees participated in this cross-sectional audience-response survey, depending on the questions answered.

Results

Most responders were between the ages of 35 and 65 years (79.6%) and female (60.2%). A majority of responders were aware of social media terminology (88.7%), and many had used it personally (46.7%), but only 12% knew how to use social media to search medical topics, 18% used it to network professionally and most (68.9%) had a distrust of social media when it came to the protection of their privacy or their patients’ privacy. Overall, about 29.6% indicated an interest in future continued medical education focused on social media (and 27.4% were neutral).

Conclusions

Approximately half of the responders used social media but far less engaged its platforms for professional use likely due to privacy related concerns. Distance from academic institutions, where professional social media use is more common likely, played a role in aversion. Awareness of social media’s role in healthcare has increased among physicians in practice, however their participation and knowledge of opportunities remains limited.

Growth of the Digital Footprint of the Society of Critical Care Medicine Annual Congress: 2014-2020

Since 2014, the Society of Critical Care Medicine has encouraged "live-tweeting" through the use of specific hashtags at each annual Critical Care Congress. We describe how the digital footprint of the Society of Critical Care Medicine Congress on Twitter has evolved at a time when social media use at conferences is becoming increasingly popular.

DESIGN

We used Symplur Signals (Symplur LLC, Pasadena, CA) to track all tweets containing the Society of Critical Care Medicine Congress hashtag for each annual meeting between 2014 and 2020. We collected data on the number of tweets, tweet characteristics, and impressions (i.e., potential views) for each year and data on the characteristics of the top 100 most actively tweeting users of that Congress.

SETTING

Twitter.

SUBJECTS

Users tweeting with the Critical Care Congress hashtag.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The Critical Care Congress digital footprint grew substantially from 2014 to 2020. The 2014 Critical Care Congress included 1,629 tweets by 266 users, compared with 29,657 tweets by 3,551 participants in 2020; average hourly tweets increased from 9.7 to 177. The percentage of tweets with mentions of other users and tweets with visual media increased. Users attending the conference were significantly more likely to compose original tweets, whereas those tweeting from afar were more likely to retweet Critical Care Congress content. There was a yearly increase in content-specific hashtags used in conjunction with Critical Care Congress hashtags (n = 429 in 2014 to n = 22,272 in 2020), most commonly related to pediatrics (18% of all hashtags), mobility/rehab (9%), sepsis (7%) social media (6%), and ICU burnout (1%).

CONCLUSIONS

There has been significant growth in live-tweeting at the Critical Care Congress, along with the increased use of content-specific hashtags and visual media. This digital footprint is largely driven by a proportion of highly engaged users. As medical conferences transition to completely or partially online platforms, understanding of the digital footprint is crucial for success.

Leveraging Social Media for Cardio-Oncology

OPINION STATEMENT

As the world becomes more connected through online and offline social networking, there has been much discussion of how the rapid rise of social media could be used in ways that can be productive and instructive in various healthcare specialties, such as Cardiology and its subspecialty areas. In this review, the role of social media in the field of Cardio-Oncology is discussed. With an estimated 17 million cancer survivors in the USA in 2019 and 22 million estimated by 2030, more education and awareness are needed. Networking and collaboration are also needed to meet the needs of our patients and healthcare professionals in this emerging field bridging two disciplines. Cardiovascular disease is second only to recurrence of the primary cancer or diagnosis with a secondary malignancy, as a leading cause of death in cancer survivors. A majority of these survivors are anticipated to be on social media seeking information, support, and ideas for optimizing health. Healthcare professionals in Cardio-Oncology are also online for networking, education, scholarship, career development, and advocacy in this field. Here, we describe the utilization and potential impact of social media in Cardio-Oncology, with inclusion of various hashtags frequently used in the Cardio-Oncology Twitter community.

Social Media Engagement at Academic Conferences: Report of the Association of Pathology Chairs 2018 and 2019 Annual Meeting Social Media Committee

The use of social media at academic conferences is expanding, and platforms such as Twitter are used to share meeting content with the world. Pathology conferences are no exception, and recently, pathology organizations have promoted social media as a way to enhance meeting exposure. A social media committee was formed ad hoc to implement strategies to enhance social media involvement and coverage at the 2018 and 2019 annual meetings of the Association of Pathology Chairs. This organized approach resulted in an 11-fold increase in social media engagement compared to the year prior to committee formation (2017). In this article, the social media committee reviews the strategies that were employed and the resultant outcome data. In addition, we categorize tweets by topic to identify the topics of greatest interest to meeting participants, and we discuss the differences between Twitter and other social media platforms. Lastly, we review the existing literature on this topic from 23 medical specialties and health care fields.

An introduction and guide to becoming a social media savvy nephrologist

The use of social media has increased over the last several decades, with ∼72% of the US adult population indicating the use of social networking platforms. Expansion of social media use beyond personal reasons now includes professional uses. This growth is especially true in medicine—and specifically nephrology. An enhanced online presence has the potential to make positive contributions to professional development, education and collaborations, potentially opening doors to academic opportunities. With a growing number of online platforms, resources and conversations, it is natural for one to feel overwhelmed and ultimately avoid social media. We discuss the benefits of social media engagement for nephrologists and provide a practical guide on how they can harness social media professionally and effectively. With an understanding of the basics, existing resources and avoidance of potential pitfalls, physicians can learn to use social media and join the global nephrology community.

A Collaborative Framework Based for Semantic Patients-Behavior Analysis and Highlight Topics Discovery of Alcoholic Beverages in Online Healthcare Forums

Medical data in online groups and social media contain valuable information, which is provided by both healthcare professionals and patients. In fact, patients can talk freely and share their personal experiences. These resources are a valuable opportunity for health professionals who can access patients' opinions, as well as discussions between patients. Recently, the data processing of the health community and, how to extract knowledge is a significant technical challenge. There are many online group and forums that users can discuss on healthcare issues. Therefore, we can examine these text documents for discovering knowledge and evaluating patients' behavior based on their opinions and discussions. For example, there are many questions and answering groups on Twitter or Facebook. Given the importance of the research, in this paper, we present a semantic framework based on topic model (LDA) and Random forest(RF) to predict and retrieval latent topics of healthcare text-documents from an online forum. We extract our healthcare records (patient-questions) from patient.info website as a real dataset. Experiments on our dataset show that social media forums could help for detecting significant patient safety problems on healthcare issues.

Science and Social Media

He Jiankui et al. conducted an experiment that resulted in the birth of the first human babies with germline gene editing. Initial and predominant communications of their work occurred via social media and outside of the norms for reviewing, approving, and engaging around work in science. This case provides an opportunity to reflect on the evolving and increasing presence of social media in science, its strengths, weaknesses, and the potential to develop applications that improve how we review, approve, and engage around the work of science. Social media use in science presents significant challenges. The potential benefits of addressing these challenges and developing new social media tools include greater transparency, access, and engagement-and could nurture the public's trust. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2019;8:1226&1229.

Analysis of highly tweeted dental journals and articles: a science mapping approach

Aim We aimed to rank dental journals according to the number of Twitter mentions related to their articles. We set out to analyse and visualise the bibliometric characteristics of highly tweeted articles.Methods Twitter mentions were extracted from the Altmetric database. Bibliometric data were obtained from the Web of Science and analysed by VOSviewer software. Hotspots among highly tweeted articles visualised by keyword co-occurrence network analysis. Bibliographic coupling network analysis was used to find the most influential journals, institutions and countries.Results A total of 20,520 Twitter accounts which shared 93,776 tweets related to 23,686 articles from 91 journals were analysed. The British Dental Journal had the highest number of Twitter mentions related to dental articles. Children, dental caries, and periodontal disease were the hottest topics among the 134 highly tweeted dental articles. @The_BDJ had the highest number of tweets related to dental articles, followed by @Dddent2 and @gary_takacs. @TheBDA had the highest number of followers, followed by @Dddent2 and @The_BDJ.Discussion Ground breaking issues such as genomic medicine, stem cells, tissue engineering, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence were not seen among the highly tweeted dental articles. In the 'Twittersphere', some independent scientists are more active than well-known dental organisations and journals. The journals are strongly recommended to be proactive in Twittersphere, to set up their own Twitter profile, and to promote their visibility and social impact by immediately tweeting the articles. Researchers should be alert to the overuse of Twitter in scholarly communications. The Kardashian index will be a useful tool to measure the over/under activity of a researcher on Twitter.

Tweeting the Headache Meetings: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Twitter Activity Surrounding American Headache Society Conferences

OBJECTIVES

To describe and analyze Twitter activity associated with American Headache Society (AHS) conferences and evaluate the potential for Twitter to promote education and public outreach.

BACKGROUND

Many medical and scientific conferences have adopted Twitter as a method of promoting discussion among attendees as well as increasing visibility. Relatively little is known, however, about the composition of conference Twitter activity, the participants, and the impact on broader Twitter discussions.

METHODS

We analyzed Twitter data from 5 AHS conferences held from 2014 to 2016 using their respective hashtags. Using the Symplur Healthcare Hashtags open social media search platform, we gathered data on numbers of tweets, impressions, participants, and mentions during a 10-day period surrounding each conference, as well as samples of Twitter accounts participating. Prominent accounts were categorized as individual medical professionals, other individuals, host organizations, health-related organizations, medical centers, and industry by cross-checking their Twitter profiles and conference registration lists. Larger samples of accounts participating in the 2016 conferences were also obtained and categorized similarly, with individual person accounts classified by conference registration status. A related prominent hashtag (#migraine) was also identified and Twitter usage before, during, and after each conference was analyzed to evaluate the impact of conference activity on broader Twitter conversations.

RESULTS

Nineteen thousand nine hundred thirty-six tweets were generated across the 5 conferences, with 11,531 (58%) created by the Top 10 participating accounts in each conference, which were primarily individual medical professionals and host organizations. Thirty-two million six hundred eighty-three thousand impressions were generated across the 5 conferences, with 24,656,000 (75%) coming from the Top 10 participants in each, particularly host organizations and other individuals. An average of 331 accounts participated in each conference. The Top 10 mentioned accounts in each conference (consisting of 21 unique accounts with 14 accounts in the Top 10 across multiple conferences, primarily individual medical professionals) received a total of 15,093 mentions. Among 135 unique accounts participating actively in the two 2016 conferences, 39% were individual medical professionals, 38% other individuals, 16% health-related organizations (including the 2 host organizations), 4% medical centers, and 2% industry. From these samples, 34 of 70 (49%) and 43 of 66 (65%) individual person accounts participating in the Twitter discussion at each conference were not registered conference attendees, indicating substantial outside participation via Twitter. #migraine usage during conferences showed a significant increase from baseline in number of tweets (6080 in a 10-day period vs 3721, P < .0001) and participants (2332 vs 1830, P < .0001) but the increase was not significant for impressions (30,155 vs 25,361, P = .240).

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with the dynamics of Twitter conversations on other topics, AHS conference discussions featured a small group of accounts creating the bulk of content, with individual medical professionals and host organizations generating the largest shares of tweets and mentions while host organizations and other individuals produced the most impressions. Participating accounts were mainly individuals and health-related organizations, with more non-attendee participants than expected. Conference Twitter activity correlated with a significant increase in #migraine usage, suggesting a perceptible influence on the discussion of health-related topics beyond the conference itself.

Integrating Social Media in Modern Oncology Practice and Research

The widespread adoption and diffusion of social media provides oncology professionals with a unique and unprecedented opportunity to engage with the public. However, there remains a paucity of literature examining how clinicians and researchers can effectively use social media to complement modern oncology practice and research. In this review, we dissect the benefits and risks of professional social media use in oncology and offer several best practices for clinicians and researchers to achieve effective engagement. We also describe how to participate constructively in Twitter conversations at the time of medical or scientific conferences. Additionally, we demonstrate how to communicate appropriately and safely with patients and families online. Finally, we explore the exciting and nascent field of social media research and highlight the need to investigate its potential value in personalized cancer medicine.

Tweeting the meeting: Quantitative and qualitative twitter activity during the 38th ESSO conference

INTRODUCTION

Social media is increasingly used to share information with the potential for fast and wide reach. Data on use during surgical oncology conferences is limited. We aimed to monitor twitter usage during a surgical oncology conference to audit impact of activity.

METHODS

A prospective, time-restricted, observational study of twitter activity using the #ESSO38 hashtag in the week before and during the 38th ESSO conference (10-12 October 2018; Budapest, Hungary). Data on individual tweets and retweets, including date and tweeter or retweeter were collected using NodeXL, FollowTheHashtag, Twitonomy and TAGS.

RESULTS

The study period (10-13 October) documented 328 tweets by 58 tweeters with 1167 retweets, with a soaring activity and mentions during the conference days, with a potential reach at over 7.5 million. The nodal network of tweets, the most active tweeters and retweeters are presented as well as the most frequently used hashtags. The top 3 hashtags used were #ESSO38, #SoMe4Surgery# and #EYSAC. A positive influence on the @ESSOweb twitter handle was noted, with the numbers of followers growing from 1.5 K to over 1.8 K representing a 20% growth in just over a week.

CONCLUSIONS

Activity on tweeter during the conference was considerable, with a potential for a wide reach beyond those attending the conference. A more structured approach to the use of twitter for future conferences may enhance experience, activity and reach.

Analysis of First-Year Twitter Metrics of a Rare Disease Community for Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm (BPDCN) on Social Media: #BPDCN

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The use of Twitter, one of the most commonly engaged social media platforms in the world, is increasing among the general public. Notably, this trend has also been observed among those involved in the healthcare field. With its ability to readily connect diverse groups of stakeholders in a given area of interest, Twitter has become a focal point for those involved in increasing awareness and information exchange in orphan disease fields. Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare, aggressive hematologic malignancy with generally poor long-term outcomes for adult patients and no standard therapeutic guidelines. Coupled with its low incidence rate, the disease has experienced a number of name changes over the past three decades (e.g., blastic NK cell lymphoma, CD4+CD56+ hematodermic tumor), thereby historically resulting in difficulties in its clinico-pathologic diagnosis and treatment approaches. All of these factors have led to a striking gap in terms of accurate information available to patients and the general public. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of more venues for the dissemination of information, particularly online, for this rare cancer.

RECENT FINDINGS

In this context, we began the Twitter medical community, #BPDCN, over a year ago, to help fill this information void. Now, completing its first year of existence, we aimed to analyze the metrics of Twitter use in order to better understand and to describe the characteristics and reach in of #BPDCN, and to determine the feasibility of starting and maintaining a disease-specific hashtag community in a particularly rare cancer.

Rare Cancers and Social Media: Analysis of Twitter Metrics in the First 2 Years of a Rare-Disease Community for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms on Social Media-#MPNSM

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The use of social media has now become a standard means of communication for many individuals worldwide. The use of one specific form of social media, Twitter, has increased among healthcare providers, both as a means of information gathering and as a conduit for original content creation. Recently, major efforts by users have been put forward to help streamline the unprecedented amount of information that can be found on Twitter. These efforts have led to the creation of diseasespecific hashtag (#) medical communities and have greatly enhanced the ability to understand and better categorize the available data on Twitter. Specifically, for those involved in rare cancer fields, adhering to organically designed and consistently used hashtags has led to the rapid, reliable dissemination of information and the ability to efficiently discuss and debate topics of interest in the field. For the field of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), the creation of #MPNSM (myeloproliferative neoplasms on social media) in 2015 has facilitated interactions among healthcare stakeholders from all over the world in the MPN field.

RECENT FINDINGS

In order to better understand the trends and topics of interest to Twitter users of this novel medical community, we conducted the present analysis which focuses on Twitter analytics from the first two years of #MPNSM. In this analysis, we observed a sustained increase in the number of Twitter users, number of tweets, number of impressions, and number of retweets over time, demonstrating the feasibility of creating and maintaining a disease-specific hashtag for a rare cancer over time.