“From Rads to Riches” – How Radiology Effectively Utilizes Social Media in Residency Recruitment

Abstract

Objective: The impact of social media (SoMe) has been magnified in the COVID-19 era with virtual interviews becoming the new normal. Residency programs that effectively utilize SoMe have the potential to distinguish themselves and improve their resident recruitment. The platforms also give programs an opportunity to connect with applicants they otherwise might have limited ability to reach prior to the interview season. We sought to evaluate the presence of SoMe across diagnostic radiology residency programs and determine how they effectively leveraged these platforms in resident recruitment. Methods: A list of diagnostic radiology residency programs within the United States was obtained from the American Medical Association (AMA) FREIDA Residency Database. A subsequent search for the presence of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram was performed for each of these programs. For programs that did not have a dedicated residency SoMe account, the department account was used in lieu if the authors appreciated residency-related content being commonly shared. The authors then tabulated the presence of each radiology residency program on the aforementioned SoMe platforms. Further analysis was then done to determine the year of creation of the account (if available on the platform), the total number of Twitter followers, the total number of Instagram followers, and the total number of Instagram posts. Descriptive statistics with Microsoft Excel was performed to analyze the data. Results: Based on the analysis, the most utilized SoMe platform by radiology residency programs was Twitter (61.73%), followed by Instagram (47.45%), and then Facebook (37.76%). Given that Twitter was the most utilized, further analysis was done to evaluate the total number of followers and the year of account creation. The results showed that the average program had 1081 ± 1438 followers and the mean year of creation was the year 2017 ± 2.6. Conclusion: Social media is an effective tool to disseminate information efficiently and effectively to prospective residency candidates. It is important that those involved in graduate medical education stay up to date with current and future trends in social media while simultaneously maintaining an active professional presence on these platforms.