Social Media for Professional Purposes: Introduction to the JACR “How to” Video Guide

Abstract

THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE Social Media for Professional Purposes: Introduction to the JACR “How to” Video Guide David M. Naeger, MD, Emily M. Webb, MD Social media pervade today’s world. Facebook has more than 600 million daily users [1]. LinkedIn, a profes- sional networking site, houses almost 200 million professional profiles [2]. Twitter, the popular microblogging website, logs almost 340 million daily tweets (short online posts) [3]. In ad- dition to teenagers, corporations, politicians, social organizations, and entertainers have turned to these tools for communication. Medicine, including radiology, has been slower to embrace these media to communicate with others, in- cluding our patients. We briefly review the key features of social media sites, how one can use these sites, the potential benefits and drawbacks as well as resources for those who want to learn more. WHAT ARE SOCIAL MEDIA? Unlike more traditional websites, on social media sites (including Fa- cebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), content is created by the users themselves. The more users there are and the more connections formed, the more successful the so- cial media experience. In addition to a large user base, the key features that tend to be part of a successful social media site are the following: 1. The ability to connect with peo- ple: Facebook and similar sites allow users to connect with fam- ily, friends, coworkers, class- mates, and so on. “Friends” (as connections are typically called) can be categorized and users can control the information shared with different categories of friends. 2. A communication hub: Social media sites often embed com- munication tools into their sites, including messaging functions, chat programs, and sometimes teleconferencing or video chat- ting programs. Although these sites are unlikely to replace ded- icated e-mail or video chat web- sites and programs, these tools offer convenience to users of so- cial media sites. Profiles: At the core of most so- cial media sites are individual profiles. Name, contact infor- mation, hometown, current lo- cation, schooling, past and present employers, and so on, can all be entered and shared. Well-designed sites use this infor- mation to help predict other users you may know, automatically orga- nize your contacts into lists, and fa- cilitate communication. Connecting with and expressing interest in activities and organi- zations: Users of social media sites can indicate their interests, personal and professional, to connect with other users who share these interests. “Newsfeed”-type announce- ments: The most common user interaction with most social me- dia sites is reading “newsfeeds” (aka “feeds”). These constantly updated streams of information are generated by one’s contacts. For example, a newsfeed can con- tain short text updates, photos, and current online activities of friends in one’s social media net- work (eg, “checking in” at a res- taurant or reading a news article). Photo and video sharing: Social media sites allow users to share photos and videos uploaded di- rectly from mobile devices and computers, which can be ar- chived into albums. 7. Applications: Similar to “apps” on a computer or smart phone operating system, these add-ons can offer other functions or fea- tures not originally programmed into the site. HOW ARE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES CURRENTLY BEING USED BY RADIOLOGISTS? Individual radiologists can post personal or professional profiles of themselves on a variety of web- sites. For example, LinkedIn has an online profile template that mirrors a curriculum vitae or re- sume, allowing professionals to post information about them- selves and connect with other professionals. Some radiology or- ganizations also have social me- dia–style profiles and interaction between users, for example, the ACR’s Radiology Leadership In- stitute [4]. More commonly, in- dividual radiologists use social media to remain up to date about their profession. Radiologic societies, particularly larger societies, have created so- cial media–style experiences on their websites, although they tend to have smaller user bases and more limited features than the most popular social media sites. More commonly, societies have a chosen to have a presence on existing social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. In a recent ACR Intersociety Committee survey, 21 of 40 re- sponding organizations indi- © 2013 American College of Radiology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2013.06.015