Abstract
BackgroundSocial Media (SoMe) is becoming increasingly used in the medical community, and its use has been related with academic productivity. However, utilization of SoMe in the European neurosurgical community has not been assessed systematically.MethodsAn online search was undertaken to discover SoMe accounts of (1) national and related neurosurgical societies listed on the EANS website, (2) neurosurgical journals present on EANS website, (3) neurosurgery centers within EANS member countries, as listed on their website. SoMe accounts of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram were searched for journals and societies, and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for neurosurgery departments. The number of likes/followers/subscribers was recorded.ResultsFive (31%) neurosurgery journals had a SoMe presence. The highest number of followers, likes, and tweets was found for JNNP, and Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B had the most subscribers and video views. SoMe usage was identified for 11 national (28.2%) and 2 multi-national neurosurgical societies. From these, the French Society of Neurosurgery had the largest number of Facebook followers (> 2800) and Likes (> 2700), the Society of British Neurological Surgeons had the largest number of Twitter followers (> 2850), whereas EANS overall had the most followers on Twitter > 5100 and Facebook > 5450. A total of 87 SoMe neurosurgery center accounts were found on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, for 64 of 1000 centers (6.4%) in 22 of 40 different countries (55%). Of these 67% (n = 43/64) arose from 6 countries (England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine). There were more Facebook accounts (n = 42) than Instagram accounts (n = 23) or Twitter accounts (n = 22).ConclusionSoMe use amongst neurosurgical societies and departments in Europe is very limited. From our perspective, explanations are lacking for the correlated numbers to the market shares of SoMe in the respective countries. Further research, including a survey, to follow up on this important topic should be undertaken among EANS members.
Highlights
MethodsSocial media (SoMe) has been developed to connect individuals and groups of similar interest through online communication platforms
YouTube states on their website that “2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube each month, and every day people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views” [21], Instagram has around 1 billion active users
The results of our research show that European Social Media (SoMe) use from an institutional standpoint remains low, with only 6.4% of neurosurgical centers listed on the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) website having a SoMe presence
Summary
MethodsSocial media (SoMe) has been developed to connect individuals and groups of similar interest through online communication platforms. Methods An online search was undertaken to discover SoMe accounts of (1) national and related neurosurgical societies listed on the EANS website, (2) neurosurgical journals present on EANS website, (3) neurosurgery centers within EANS member countries, as listed on their website. SoMe accounts of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram were searched for journals and societies, and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for neurosurgery departments. A total of 87 SoMe neurosurgery center accounts were found on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, for 64 of 1000 centers (6.4%) in 22 of 40 different countries (55%). Of these 67% (n = 43/64) arose from 6 countries (England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine). Further research, including a survey, to follow up on this important topic should be undertaken among EANS members
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