Want to Participate in Social Media? #GOFORIT

Twitter, a microblogging site that allows communication by posts of no more than 140 characters in length, is an open platform of communication rather than a closed platform, explained Dr. Niraj J. Gusani.

"This adds a level of complexity – and possibly risk – that may make this medium less ideal for health care professional use. Anything that you post can be seen by anyone in the world at any time. There’s no filter. On the other hand, Twitter has a wide reach, and it’s easy for people to find you," said Dr. Gusani, assistant professor of surgery, medicine, and public health sciences at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey.

A recent survey of 315 members of the American College of Surgeons found that 79% never use Twitter, while 6% use it daily and 3% use it weekly (Bull. Am. Coll. Surg. 2011;96:46-8). In Dr. Gusani’s opinion, surgeons can use Twitter to update the public about the latest news, events, and research highlights; respond to other tweets related to their field, area of research, or organization; participate in tweet chats or Q&A sessions; and tweet highlights from professional events and meetings.

While some clinicians use Twitter for patient contact and marketing, Dr. Gusani cautioned that it’s important to be wary of violating patient confidentiality. A review of 260 physician Twitter accounts revealed that 144 of 5,156 tweets (3%) were categorized as unprofessional (JAMA 2011;305:566-8).

Of these, 38 (0.7%) represented potential patient privacy violations and 33 (0.6%) contained profanity.

Dr. Gusani said that he uses Twitter to "push information, studies, and observations related mainly to oncology and surgical oncology patient education. I post perspectives about medical news and occasional retweets."

Twitter-based resources and chats recommended by Dr. Gusani include #twitJP, a journal club; #hcsm, a global health care chat that takes place at 9 p.m. ET every Sunday; #CMEchat, which takes place every Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET; and #Meded chat, which takes place every Thursday at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET.

Dr. Seung S. Gwon spoke about the potential benefits of LinkedIn, a professional networking site that allows users to strengthen and expand their network of contacts. It currently has more than 15 million members in more than 200 countries and territories, including 44 million-plus members in the United States alone.

"The best part about LinkedIn is that it only takes a few minutes to set up your online profile, where you might list your experience, education, and accomplishments," said Dr. Gwon, a surgeon at El Centro (Calif.) Regional Medical Center.

The overall purpose is to connect to other users and build a network of trusted contacts, including personal e-mail contacts, professional colleagues, coworkers, and former classmates.

"There’s some discussion as to whether or not you should allow your Facebook contacts to be a part of LinkedIn," she said. "If you have separate business and personal Facebook accounts, that would be all right, but they highly discourage you from allowing your social contacts onto a professional network." Active participation on the site typically involves joining groups such as your alma mater or the medical institution you work for, participating in discussion boards, and writing and soliciting recommendations.

Dr. Gwon said that physicians have been slow to join LinkedIn because it doesn’t allow them to directly connect with their patients. "However, it does provide you with a digital footprint, so if patients want to look, they can," she said.

"Also, a lot of people feel there is no value to networking if they’re already employed. If you like your job and you like where you are, there’s no reason to set up a big profile, primarily because most physicians work in a narrowly defined geography and we don’t really see the need to sell ourselves.

"We rely on word-of-mouth, the reputations that we create in our communities, [and] physicians who refer patients to us." Even so, she advises physicians to consider joining LinkedIn because it improves Google search rankings, and is a cost-effective, efficient means to maintain professional relationships.

The symposium was supported by an educational grant from Stryker Endoscopy. None of the speakers had relevant financial conflicts to disclose.