The good in social media.

Abstract

It is with great enthusiasm that I write this first editorial as Editor-in-Chief of BJUI Compass to kick off the November 2022 issue of the journal. In thinking about what to write about for my first editorial, I was inspired by one of this month's Research Communications written by Grauer and co-workers1 on the topic of social media in urologic publishing. In their study, the authors examined the impact of including visual abstracts in tweets promoting journal articles, as measured by the degree of user engagement. Using data from the Twitter account of BJU International (@BJUIjournal), the authors found a 3.5-fold increase in the number of engagements for tweets that included a visual abstract versus those that did not. The highlighted report is a clear example of how social media can improve the dissemination of peer-reviewed research from the medical literature. There is no doubt that this is something that social media can benefit from seeing more of, as in recent years, there has been no shortage of stories about how social media has had a negative impact on society. We have seen everything from scandals surrounding the selling of users' personal data to the influence of fake news on election results around the world. The negative impact of social media was perhaps most pointedly summarised in the 2021 Emmy-award-winning Netflix special ‘The Social Dilemma’. This documentary-style film provided a comprehensive look at how social media causes addiction among its users and is regularly used to manipulate people's views and behaviours. The film also details how these negative aspects of social media are driving the ever-worsening mental health crisis among adolescents and teens. While there is little doubt that social media has had a less-than-positive overall impact on the general population, the situation appears to be quite different among members of the medical community—the majority of whom have used social media to enrich our profession. Of the social media platforms, the one most utilised by physicians, particularly urologists, is Twitter (#MedTwitter/#UroSoMe). The use of this platform has been shown to improve the dissemination of clinical practice guidelines,2 promote physician engagement in journal club,3 enable input from other doctors on complex clinical cases4 and facilitate the exchange of information between healthcare organizations, patients, and providers.5 In my own experience, I have found social media to be a rich source of information on the latest medical news. Since joining Twitter in 2015 (@michael_gorin), I can say that there have been few, if any, major clinical trial results that I did not know about within a day or so of their reporting at a conference or within a journal. Additionally, I have used Twitter to network with urologists from around the world, many of whom I have since met in person and consider to be great friends. I have also used social media to promote my academic work, which has undoubtedly increased my visibility as an expert in my areas of study. A number of my interactions on social media have parlayed into invited talks both locally and abroad, case observation and proctoring opportunities, collaborative publications and, most recently, participation in a multinational clinical trial. There has been no shortage of career-advancing opportunities that have come about from social media. This is perhaps most evident in my recent selection as the second Editor-in-Chief of BJUI Compass. To briefly tell the story, earlier this spring I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I saw a tweet from the BJUI Compass account (@BJUICompass) announcing a call for applications to replace Dr John Davis as the outgoing editor. Upon seeing this tweet, I wrote a letter of interest and then went on to do several interviews for the post. I credit Twitter for this opportunity for two reasons. First, as an early career urologist in the United States, it seems rather unlikely that folks in the United Kingdom would be familiar with me and my academic work or have the necessary faith to place me at the journal's helm. However, I was told by several individuals during these interviews that the team at the journal was already familiar with me from activity on social media and this made me stand out as more than just a name on paper. Secondly, I credit Twitter for this opportunity because had I not seen the call for applications—which I did not see advertised elsewhere—the opportunity would have passed me. By staying ‘in the know’, I was able to seize on what I consider the professional opportunity of a lifetime. And so, as of this current issue of BJUI Compass, I have taken over the reins of the journal from its founding editor, Dr John Davis. I cannot give enough credit and praise to Dr Davis for his contributions to the journal. He is responsible for partaking in the founding of the journal, defining its core mission, assembling a world-class editorial board, delivering 16 published issues and achieving the milestone of becoming indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE. Of these contributions, perhaps the most important one relates to defining the journal's mission of being home to any publication in the field of urology that adheres to ‘sound science’ principles, regardless of the overall impact of a paper.6 Even negative studies or those that are only confirmatory in nature are welcome for publication at BJUI Compass, so long as the methods used are scientifically valid. By making this part of the journal's core mission, Dr Davis and the rest of the founding staff at BJUI Compass have contributed greatly to improving equity in scientific publishing. Often these ‘less desirable’ articles come from individuals in the earliest stages of their careers or those without the financial means to conduct clinical trials or translational studies. There is no doubt that these studies carry great importance, but authors often struggle to find a home for their work due to the lack of perceived impact and ‘citability’ by a journal. Our goal at BJUI Compass is to remove this barrier to scientific publishing. In closing, I am truly honoured to serve the urologic community in my new role as Editor-in-Chief at BJUI Compass. Again, I thank social media for this opportunity and Dr Davis for the road ahead he has paved for me at the journal. I look forward to working with the journal's authors, reviewers, editorial board and wonderful staff for the years to come.