Twitter Metrics Research Articles

Social Media Use and Impact on Voters and Candidates in Kerala

This article presents a comprehensive survey of social media usage among Kerala voters across three parliamentary constituencies ( N = 1500). It explores the socio-economic factors influencing both online and offline political engagement and sheds light on how social media empowers younger voters by reducing their reliance on traditional influencers. Kerala’s social media trends align with those of developed nations like the USA, in contrast to broader Indian digital and gender divide indicators. The study also delves into the social media strategies of 280 successful candidates in the April 2019 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections, identifying the key factors influencing their electoral success. Notably, Facebook engagement metrics, such as shares and followers, emerge as more significant predictors of candidate winnability than Twitter metrics. The research highlights the profound impact of social media on political communication, perception, youth participation and candidate strategies, ultimately shaping electoral outcomes in Kerala. This study addresses a critical research gap regarding social media use among Kerala voters and the reciprocal strategies adopted by candidates, including the predictive impact on candidates’ performance.

Effective Use of Twitter by Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Journals Can Result in Increased Impact Factor

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine if activity on Twitter was corelated with increasing impact factor (IF) among six orthopaedic sports medicine journals. MethodsTwitonomy software was used to collect account activity for the American Journal of Sports Medicine, The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, and Sports Health. Data was collected from 2000-2020. Each journal’s annual IF score was collected via Scijournal.org. A multivariate regression model was used to predict the influence of different Twitter metrics on IF from 2012-2019. The journal name, number of tweets, and the interaction of the two were used to predict IF. Additionally, Pearson correlaxtion was used to assess correlations between Twitter account metrics and IF. ResultsOver the study period, all IFs increased, except for AJSM. The effect size between number of tweets and IF was not the same for each journal. For every additional tweet, AJSM increased their IF by 0.001, (p= 0.18). Sports Health and OJSM increased their IF by 0.01 (p=0.002) and 0.022, (p=<0.001). KSSTA would expect a decrease in their IF by 0.004 (p=0.55), JSES and Arthroscopy would increase their IF by 0.002 (p=0.71) and 0.001 (p=0.99), but this was not significant. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between annual tweets and IF across all journals. ConclusionMarkers of Twitter account activity, specifically the number of annual tweets, was predictive of an increase in IF among the orthopedic sports medicine journals included in this study.

Social Media Metrics as Predictors of Publishers’ Website Traffic

The relationship between legacy media and social media has become a crucial topic in the discussions about new media. The debate intensified after Facebook announced a reduction in news posts in user timelines in 2018. In the era of the “Like economy”, social media holds significant economic value, prompting media outlets to adopt a “let’s try and see” approach to reach new audiences and increase their online advertising share. The present study, based on a large-scale survey of 50 publishers’ websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts, deepens our understanding of the relationship between legacy and social media as indicators of audience feedback. Through the lens of network gatekeeping and reciprocal journalism theories, it contributes to the development of new evaluation tools that predict publishers’ website traffic based on social media metrics. Results show that Facebook and Twitter metrics can predict publishers’ website traffic indicators at a rate exceeding 60%. This study underscores the importance of social media metrics in evaluating media practices and the need to shift research toward specific indicators to understand the relationship between legacy and social media.

An exploratory study of Twitter metrics for measuring user influence

Influence plays a critical role in information communication, and the ubiquitous use of social media has made measuring influence on social media platforms a salient challenge. While previous studies have attempted to measure and investigate influence on Twitter, there is no consensus on its definition or relation to fundamental Twitter metrics. This study examined relationships between a composite influence measure of Twitter and fundamental social media metrics using a sample of tweets from a multi-year public campaign. Correlation analyses indicated that a user's number of followers had the strongest correlation with the composite measure. Principal components analysis was conducted for dimension reduction, and multiple regression analysis was performed using the resulting components. The findings revealed that a user's network was the most important predictor of the composite influence measure and that there was a negative relationship between campaign related activity and the composite measure. Implications of these findings are discussed. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of and future efforts in the measurement of influence on social media.

Trends in Twitter Utilization Among Academic Otolaryngologists.

To characterize Twitter utilization among academic otolaryngologists and evaluate the relationship between Twitter utilization and research productivity. Data were collected manually from accredited US otolaryngology residency programs from July-November 2021. Program and faculty demographics were documented, including citations and H-index for faculty and Doximity reputation and US News and World Report ranking for programs. Twitter metrics were also recorded. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify predictors of Twitter utilization. Currently, 333 (16%) faculty and 70 (62%) programs have a Twitter account. Of these, 36 (11%) and 27 (39%), respectively, were created in 2020. The regression model indicates that for each 5 unit increase in H-index, the odds of having a Twitter account increase 22% (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10-1.34, p = 0.0009). The number of faculty with a Twitter account predicts the existence of program Twitter accounts (OR:1.49, 95% CI 1.01-2.19, p = 0.04). Finally, of the 323 faculty with a Twitter account and available Scopus profile, we found that the number of individuals with Twitter use out of proportion to their academic productivity was low (n = 8/323). The H-index is a significant predictor of faculty Twitter accounts, whereas the number of faculty with Twitter is a significant predictor of program Twitter utilization. Although Twitter utilization is increasing, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, the findings indicate that there is ample room for growth, particularly amongst faculty with strong academic portfolios. NA Laryngoscope, 134:1190-1196, 2024.

Analysis of perceptions and emotional repercussions in Twitter users in Colombia during the COVID-19 pandemic

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health. Up to a quarter of the population has reported mental health disorders. This has been studied mainly from a nosological perspective, according to diagnostic criteria. Nevertheless, we did not find studies that have explored the daily expressions of the population. Our objective was to evaluate the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the emotional well-being of the Colombian population. MethodsWe performed a Twitter metrics and trend analysis. Initially, in the trend analysis, we calculated the average duration in hours of the 20 most popular trending topics of the day in Colombia and we grouped them into trends related to COVID-19 and unrelated trends. Subsequently, we identified dates of events associated with the pandemic relevant to the country, and they were related to the behaviour of the trends studied. Additionally, we did an exploratory analysis of these, selected the tweets with the greatest reach and categorised them in an inductive way to analyse them qualitatively. ResultsIssues not related to COVID-19 were more far-reaching than those related to coronavirus. However, a rise in these issues was seen on some dates consistent with important events in Colombia. We found expressions of approval and disapproval, solidarity and accusation. Inductively, we identified categories of informative tweets, humour, fear, stigma and discrimination, politics and entities, citizen complaints, and self-care and optimism. ConclusionsThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic generates different reactions in the population, which increasingly have more tools to express themselves and know the opinions of others. Social networks play a fundamental role in the communication of the population, so this content could serve as a public health surveillance tool and a useful and accessible means of communication in the management of health crises.

Neudrawlogy: Simplifying Neurology to Create a Global Social Media Impact (P7-2.002)

<h3>Objective:</h3> To demonstrate the educational impact of Neudrawlogy, a social-media initiative that posts infographics about Neurology. <h3>Background:</h3> Over the last several years, social media platforms have become important forums for educators and students alike, and the importance of these virtual forums was accelerated by the COVID19 pandemic.¹ Twitter has emerged as a preferred social media platform for members of the medical community and offers educators a unique ability to reach a global medical audience at low cost and high speed.^{2, 3} The #Neurotwitter community has grown steadily, and there are over fifteen thousand #Neurotwitter posts monthly.⁴ Neudrawlogy was created in August 2021 with the aim of simplifying Neurology for this global audience by presenting thoughtfully illustrated infographics and paired microteaching in the form of tweetorials (series of tweets forming a tutorial). <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> Evaluation of the Twitter metrics of @Neudrawlogy from August 2021 to July 2022, including number of posts, number of visualizations per post, number of followers. We also used the AI-driven Twitter analytic platform “Tweepsmap®” to better characterize the geographic variance of the followers. <h3>Results:</h3> On Twitter, Neudrawlogy had 1,170,243 views and 154,799 profile visits in 1 year. There were 214 tweets posted and an average of 102,021 views per tweet. A total of 27 infographics were posted, with an average of 43,342 views per infographic. In this period, the page had a total of 4,899 new followers. Followers are mainly from the US (30.2%), India (11.5%), Australia (9.2%), UK (6.7%), and Saudi Arabia (5.1%). <h3>Conclusions:</h3> By providing simple illustrations and microteaching “tweetorials,” Neudrawlogy achieved more than 1 million viewers in one year. Teaching through social media platforms like Twitter is a free and innovative method for disseminating Neurology-focused teaching and may allow educators to reach a global audience. <b>Disclosure:</b> Dr. Figueiredo Pucci has nothing to disclose. Dr. Albin has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Continuum: Life Long Learning in Neurology. Dr. Albin has received research support from American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Albin has received publishing royalties from a publication relating to health care. Dr. Albin has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Instructor with Resuscitation Leadership Academy.

#Ophthalmology: Social Media Utilization and Impact in Ophthalmology Journals, Professional Societies, and Eye Health Organizations.

AimTo evaluate and quantify social media presence of ophthalmology peer-reviewed journals, professional societies, and eye health organizations, and to determine if there is a correlation between social media utilization and Twitter engagement metrics or journal impact measures.MethodsWe searched for online profiles of 100 ophthalmology peer-reviewed journals, 333 professional ophthalmology societies, and 40 eye health organizations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Impact was quantified by recording the number of “likes” on Facebook and number of followers on Twitter and Instagram. We also used Twitonomy software to obtain advanced Twitter metrics for all journal accounts from 2018 to 2021, and compared to journal impact measured by SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) score, the h-index, and impact factor.ResultsEye health organizations averaged significantly greater Facebooks “likes” and Twitter followers than both peer-reviewed journals and professional societies (p < 0.0001). Of 100 journals studied, 30% were active on Twitter, 25% on Facebook, and 6% on Instagram. Slightly more than half of all journal-affiliated social media accounts were accessible from the journal website. Among journals with active Twitter accounts, total followers, total tweets, average retweets, and average “favorites” were all significantly positively correlated with academic metrics such as the SJR, h-index, and/or impact factor.ConclusionGreater social media engagement is associated with higher ophthalmology journal impact metrics; however, ophthalmology journals and professional societies lag behind eye health organizations in social media engagement. Although unable to demonstrate causality, social media may be an underutilized visibility, communication, and dissemination tool.

35047 Altmetric scoring in dermatopathology: How do these high-scoring articles differ with other citation metrics?

Researchers measure their scientific impact through H-index, total citations, journal impact factor, and more. However, these methods may not imply societal impact. A newer scoring method from Altmetric provides insights into societal impact through twitter metrics, policy sources, and news outlet monitoring. In this study, we sought to determine if major differences exist between top-cited dermatopathology publications and high Altmetric scoring articles. Within Web of Science, a citation report was performed to determine the top-cited “dermatopathology” articles and exclusion criteria included articles with: an Altmetric score <1 or unrelated to dermatopathology or skin diseases.

Are automated accounts driving scholarly communication on Twitter? a case study of dissemination of COVID-19 publications.

From a network perspective, this study analyzes 659 users mentioning sampled COVID-19 articles 10 or more times on Twitter with a focus on their roles in facilitating the process of scholarly communication. Different from existing studies, we consider both the user types and the automation of accounts to profile influential users in the network of research dissemination. Our study found that similar to academic users, non-academic users can also be active players in communicating scientific publications. The results highlight the intensive interactions between human users and automated accounts, including bots and cyborgs, which accounted for 45% of connections among the top users. This study also demonstrates the important role of automated accounts in initiating and facilitating research dissemination. Specifically, (1) bot-assisted academic publishers showed the highest amplifier scores, which measures a user’s tendency of being the first to share information and reach out to others within their trusted networks, (2) 5.28% of the selected articles was first tweeted by automated research feeds, ranking the fourth among the 22 classified user groups, and (3) bot-assisted publishers and automated feeds of generic topics and news alerts were highly ranked in authority, a network measure to quantify the degree to which a user consumes important resources of relevant topics. In the conclusion section, we discuss future directions to improve the validity of Twitter metrics in assessing research impacts.

Twitter Engagement of Medical Students Applying to Urology Residency During COVID-19: A Mixed Methods Study

To determine how medical students' Twitter engagement impacted the urology residency match and overall student perception of Twitter. We utilized a mixed methods approach with (1) Twitter metrics data, (2) online student surveys, and (3) qualitative semi-structured interviews. Interviews were evaluated with iterative thematic content analysis, while quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and univariate analyses. We identified 245 Twitter accounts of Urology residency applicants from the 2021 cycle. Matched students were more likely to have a Twitter account (59% matched vs 28% unmatched, P = .002) and account creation increased following the COVID-19 pandemic announcement. Matched students' profiles were associated with more followers, bios mentioning Urology, home Urology residency programs, and no international flags and/or references. The online survey had a 16% response rate. A majority reported utilizing Twitter for residency information (95%), wanting to continue Twitter throughout residency (67%), and feeling uncomfortable tweeting about racial, political, or diversity issues (64%). Nine interviews revealed 4 themes: Twitter's opportunities for networking, Twitter's role in the application process, the burden of social media use, and professionalism. Students applying to Urology residency increasingly utilized Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic and having a Twitter account was associated with matching. While Twitter may not be necessary to succeed in the match and can pose an additional time burden, applicants view it as an opportunity for learning, networking, and personal branding.

Association of Twitter Metrics and Cardiology and Heart Surgery National Hospital Rankings.

Since 1990, the U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) has been publishing rankings of US adult and children’s hospitals. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between hospital Twitter metrics and the 2020 USNWR hospital cardiology and heart surgery ranking. We collected data on the cardiology and heart surgery overall ranking score and expert opinion. Twitter metrics were obtained on October 20, 2020, and included time on Twitter, number of followers, accounts being followed, total tweets, reach score (difference between followers and followed), and annual tweet rate (total tweets divided by time on Twitter). The final cohort consisted of 463 hospitals (48 of which were top-ranking hospitals). A significant positive relation was observed with Twitter metrics and hospital ranking. On multivariable regression after adjusting for time on Twitter, the overall score was independently associated with annual tweet rate and reach score (β=12.45% and β=0.34% for each 1,000 tweets per year and 10,000 reach score accounts; P<.001). Similarly, expert opinion was independently associated with annual tweet rate and reach score (β=0.025% and β=0.002% for each 1000 tweets per year and 10,000 reach score accounts; P<.001). Our results emphasize how hospital leaders may leverage social media platforms as an important medium to disseminate accomplishments and increase their visibility and reputation, potentially translating to higher USNWR ranking.

The Use of Twitter by Medical Journals: Systematic Review of the Literature.

BackgroundMedical journals use Twitter to engage and disseminate their research articles and implement a range of strategies to maximize reach and impact.ObjectiveThis study aims to systematically review the literature to synthesize and describe the different Twitter strategies used by medical journals and their effectiveness on journal impact and readership metrics.MethodsA systematic search of the literature before February 2020 in four electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect) was conducted. Articles were reviewed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines.ResultsThe search identified 44 original research studies that evaluated Twitter strategies implemented by medical journals and analyzed the relationship between Twitter metrics and alternative and citation-based metrics. The key findings suggest that promoting publications on Twitter improves citation-based and alternative metrics for academic medical journals. Moreover, implementing different Twitter strategies maximizes the amount of attention that publications and journals receive. The four key Twitter strategies implemented by many medical journals are tweeting the title and link of the article, infographics, podcasts, and hosting monthly internet-based journal clubs. Each strategy was successful in promoting the publications. However, different metrics were used to measure success.ConclusionsFour key Twitter strategies are implemented by medical journals: tweeting the title and link of the article, infographics, podcasts, and hosting monthly internet-based journal clubs. In this review, each strategy was successful in promoting publications but used different metrics to measure success. Thus, it is difficult to conclude which strategy is most effective. In addition, the four strategies have different costs and effects on dissemination and readership. We recommend that journals and researchers incorporate a combination of Twitter strategies to maximize research impact and capture audiences with a variety of learning methods.

Largest neurosurgical social media group and its impact on communication and research

Background The use of social media to communicate and disseminate knowledge has increased exponentially, especially in the field of neurosurgery. ‘Neurosurgery cocktail’ (NC) was developed by a group of young neurosurgeons as a means of sharing didactic materials and clinical experiences via social media. It connects 35.000 neurosurgeons worldwide on multiple platforms, primarily Facebook and Twitter. Given the rising utilization of social media in neurosurgery, the popularity of NC has also increased since its inception. In this study, the authors surveyed the social media analytics of NC for both Facebook and Twitter. Besides, we reviewed the literature on the use of social media in neurosurgery. Methods Facebook and Twitter metrics were extracted through each respective platform’s analytics tools from December 2020 (earliest available date for data analysis) through January 2021. A literature search was conducted using PubMed (MEDLINE) and Scopus databases. Results On Facebook, as of January 2021, the group had a total of 25.590 members (87.6% male), most commonly (29%) between 35 and 44 years of age with over 100 countries were represented. As of January 2021, they had amassed 6457 followers on Twitter. During the last 28 d between December 2020 and January 2021, the account published 65 tweets that garnered a total of 196,900 impressions. Twelve articles were identified in our literature review on the use of social media within the neurosurgical community. Conclusions NC is one of the most widely utilized neurosurgical social media resources available. Sharing knowledge has been broadened thanks to the recent social media evolution, and NC has become a leading player in disseminating neurosurgical knowledge.

Análisis de percepciones y repercusiones emocionales en usuarios de Twitter en Colombia durante la pandemia de COVID-19

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health. Up to a quarter of the population has reported mental health disorders. This has been studied mainly from a nosological perspective, according to diagnostic criteria. Nevertheless, we did not find studies that have explored the daily expressions of the population. Our objective was to evaluate the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the emotional well-being of the Colombian population. MethodsWe performed a Twitter metrics and trend analysis. Initially, in the trend analysis, we calculated the average duration in hours of the 20 most popular trending topics of the day in Colombia and we grouped them into trends related to COVID-19 and unrelated trends. Subsequently, we identified dates of events associated with the pandemic relevant to the country, and they were related to the behaviour of the trends studied. Additionally, we did an exploratory analysis of these, selected the tweets with the greatest reach and categorised them in an inductive way to analyse them qualitatively. ResultsIssues not related to COVID-19 were more far-reaching than those related to coronavirus. However, a rise in these issues was seen on some dates consistent with important events in Colombia. We found expressions of approval and disapproval, solidarity and accusation. Inductively, we identified categories of informative tweets, humour, fear, stigma and discrimination, politics and entities, citizen complaints, and self-care and optimism. ConclusionsThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic generates different reactions in the population, which increasingly have more tools to express themselves and know the opinions of others. Social networks play a fundamental role in the communication of the population, so this content could serve as a public health surveillance tool and a useful and accessible means of communication in the management of health crises.

Impact of Social Media Marketing on Business Performance: A Hybrid Performance Measurement Approach Using Data Analytics and Machine Learning

This article systematically applies machine learning and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyze Twitter messages, Twitter metrics, and organizational financial metrics to gain insights into impactful messaging typology on social media network. Automated machine learning is employed for the classification of tweets of select US Furniture Retail Stores while various DEA models are utilized to analyze multiple input metrics to obtain an efficiency ranking for the selected brands. Based on these analyses, the article discusses the implications of the findings for small and medium-sized enterprise marketing managers at the industry level. Recommendations for industry practice are also provided in addition to the directions regarding future research.

1112. #EducationInTheTimeofCOVID: Using Twitter to Disseminate Evidence-Based Medicine during a Pandemic

BackgroundThe medical community has used Twitter as a learning tool during the COVID-19 pandemic to digest the high volume of rapidly evolving literature. However, Twitter contains educational content of varying quality and accuracy. To address this issue, we created and disseminated visual abstracts of COVID-19 literature on Twitter to educate health professionals.MethodsFellows and faculty members from multiple institutions collaborated with Emory University medical students to create visual abstracts of published COVID-19 literature (Figure 1). ID fellows and faculty identified and summarized 10-15 high-impact COVID-19 articles each week. Medical students created visual abstracts for each article, which fellows or faculty reviewed for accuracy. We disseminated them on Twitter (@JenniferSpicer4, 4,373 followers) and our website (Figure 2). We measured engagement with tweets using Twitter Analytics.Figure 1: COVID-19 Visual Example Figure 2: Website hosting COVID-19 weekly literature summaries and visual abstracts (https://med.emory.edu/departments/medicine/divisions/infectious-diseases/covid19-roundup/) ResultsSince March 2020, we have created, reviewed, and disseminated 139 graphics with 116 student authors and 33 fellow/faculty reviewers across three academic institutions (Table 1). Topics included public health & prevention, virology & basic science, epidemiology, transmission & infection control, clinical syndrome, diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccinology, and ethics & policy. Tweets had a median of 9,300 impressions (interquartile range [IQR] 5,432-13,233) with 766 engagements (IQR 432-1,288) and an engagement rate of 8.6% (IQR 7.1%-10.0%) (Table 2). Each tweet had a median of 25 retweets (IQR 17-38) and 55 likes (IQR 34-81). A few tweets had significantly higher metrics; maximum values were 84,257 impressions, 9,758 engagements, 19.0% engagement rate, 239 retweets, and 381 likes. In addition to disseminating graphics on Twitter, we received requests to use them as teaching aids from multiple health professionals worldwide, and the visual abstracts have been translated into Spanish and disseminated on Twitter and Instagram via @MEdSinFrontera.Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of COVID-19 Visual Series Table 2: Twitter Metrics for COVID-19 Visual Series (as of 6/10/2020) ConclusionEngagement rates with our visual abstracts were high, demonstrating the power of Twitter. ID educators can use visual abstracts to summarize and disseminate accurate information to a large audience on social media, which is especially important in the setting of an emerging infection.Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

A Portrait of Current Radiation Oncology Twitter Influencers.

IntroductionWe aimed to characterize the most influential radiation oncologists on Twitter, the correlation between their Twitter activity and their academic profiles as measured by the Scopus H-index as well as their activity around the American Society for Radiation Oncologists (ASTRO) 2018 meeting.MethodsWe defined radiation oncology influencers as any radiation oncologist with 500 or more followers on Twitter through the first two weeks of August 2019. We collected their available characteristics, their Scopus H-index, and Twitter metrics. We examined their general Twitter activity as well as their specific activity before, during, and after the 2018 ASTRO annual meeting. We identified the most frequent tweet content categories for each influencer.ResultsWe identified 48 radiation oncologist influencers; 79% were male, 75% were based in the United States, and 94% were affiliated with an academic center. Among them, 44% had high H-indices of ≥21, an average value in academic faculty for full professors or department heads.There were no correlations between H-index and Twitter metrics such as the number of individuals the influencer was following (p = 0.58), the number of followers (p = 0.66), the number of tweets (p = 0.88), and the number of likes (p = 0.54). During the period around ASTRO 2018, the mean number of tweets per influencer was 4437 (range 87-93,000).ConclusionCurrent radiation oncology influencers are predominantly North American males from academic institutions. A correlation between academic productivity as measured by the H-index and Twitter metrics was not demonstrated. The fact that some influencers had a low H-index supports that a high academic profile as measured by traditional metrics is not necessary to have a voice in the Twitter radiation oncology community.

Social Media for Hematopathologists: Medical Practice Reinvented-#Hemepath.

Social media engagement by medical professionals with varied background subspecialties has steadily gained popularity in recent years. As a heavily visual discipline, pathology has been able to leverage social media platforms for trainee education, curbside and official consultations, interdisciplinary communication, and interactions among medical professionals and patient education. The pathology community has been at the forefront of using social media as an educational forum, and the hematopathology community has emerged as one of the strongest and most influential presences on these online platforms. In this review, we perform an in-depth analysis of various Twitter metrics to demonstrate key trends in the usage of social media as it pertains to hematopathology using the hashtag #Hemepath and we describe specific details on how hematopathologists have managed to take advantage of Twitter in furthering our mission of advancing medical education and disseminating knowledge using these innovative virtual educational experiences. The hematopathology community has a great degree of enthusiasm among residents, fellows, and faculty in sharing educational material using case-based examples, participating in group-based online activities, introducing new publications by article authors or readership, and disseminating educational "pearls" from medical conferences, using hashtags and digital images that otherwise would not be readily available to many around the globe. This practice is helping reshape the structure of our field and is providing opportunities to optimize the educational experience by enhancing the instant exposure to cutting-edge information and expert opinions, among other valuable features. The hematopathology community has leveraged social media platforms for disseminating educational material and strengthening interdisciplinary interactions and is a "poster child" for a medical subspecialty that has thrived and flourished by more broadly adopting virtual educational platforms. We hope that this review will provide details on how social media platforms can be used by others in the medical field to achieve similar goals.

Examining the Association of Academic Rank and Productivity with Metrics of Twitter Utilization Amongst Kidney Cancer Specialists

BACKGROUND: Twitter has emerged as an important platform for conversation surrounding cancer-related topics. As use has proliferated, a better classification of physicians engaging in cancer discussions on Twitter is warranted. OBJECTIVES: To better characterize the medical specialists involved in disseminating kidney cancer information on social media through academic and Twitter metrics. METHODS: Clinical practitioners with an expertise in kidney cancer were identified. Demographics, metrics of academic rank and productivity, and Twitter usage data were collected. Correlations were calculated for the generation of a model predictive of the number of Twitter followers. Analysis of the experts’ Twitter content was performed. RESULTS: Among 59 kidney cancer experts identified, 14 (23.7%) were assistant professors, 24 (40.7%) were associate professors, and 21 (35.6%) were full professors. A total of 5424 tweets were analyzed, 86% of which were medically-related. We identified several differences between academic rank and Twitter variables. Associate professors registered a greater median number of followers subscribed to their Twitter accounts (2360) versus assistant professors (1253) and full professors (934) (p = 0.03) and a greater median number of accounts they themselves followed (752 vs. 290 vs. 235, respectively; p = 0.0009). Use of a more generalized approach (ANCOVA) showed that the most predictive variables for the number of followers are number of tweets, H-index, and percentage of medical tweets (R2 = 0.70). CONCLUSIONS: This study supported correlations between metrics of academic and Twitter activity. The generation of a model to predict the number of followers on Twitter is novel – future work will validate this in other disease types.