Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study
BackgroundDespite the ubiquity of social media, the utilization and audience reach of this communication method by otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) residency programs has not been investigated. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the cont...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2021-12-01
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| Series: | JMIR Medical Education |
| Online Access: | https://mededu.jmir.org/2021/4/e25654 |
| _version_ | 1797735496486486016 |
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| author | Deborah X Xie Emily F Boss C Matthew Stewart |
| author_facet | Deborah X Xie Emily F Boss C Matthew Stewart |
| author_sort | Deborah X Xie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundDespite the ubiquity of social media, the utilization and audience reach of this communication method by otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) residency programs has not been investigated.
ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the content posted to a popular social media platform (Twitter) by OHNS residency programs.
MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we identified Twitter accounts for accredited academic OHNS residency programs. Tweets published over a 6-month period (March to August 2019) were extracted. Tweets were categorized and analyzed for source (original versus retweet) and target audience (medical versus layman). A random sample of 100 tweets was used to identify patterns of content, which were then used to categorize additional tweets. We quantified the total number of likes or retweets by health care professionals.
ResultsOf the 121 accredited programs, 35 (28.9%) had Twitter accounts. Of the 2526 tweets in the 6-month period, 1695 (67.10%) were original-content tweets. The majority of tweets (1283/1695, 75.69%) were targeted toward health care workers, most of which did not directly contain medical information (954/1283, 74.36%). These tweets contained information about the department’s trainees and education (349/954, 36.6%), participation at conferences (263/954, 27.6%), and research publications (112/954, 11.7%). Two-thirds of all tweets did not contain medical information. Medical professionals accounted for 1249/1362 (91.70%) of retweets and 5616/6372 (88.14%) of likes on original-content tweets.
ConclusionsThe majority of Twitter usage by OHNS residency programs is for intra and interprofessional communication, and only a minority of tweets contain information geared toward the public. Communication and information sharing with patients is not the focus of OHNS departments on Twitter. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:59:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cb111c3e931d4aceac1237f2018ed905 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2369-3762 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:59:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-cb111c3e931d4aceac1237f2018ed9052023-08-28T19:58:01ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Medical Education2369-37622021-12-0174e2565410.2196/25654Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional StudyDeborah X Xiehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3949-199XEmily F Bosshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0213-5609C Matthew Stewarthttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3265-7467 BackgroundDespite the ubiquity of social media, the utilization and audience reach of this communication method by otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) residency programs has not been investigated. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the content posted to a popular social media platform (Twitter) by OHNS residency programs. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we identified Twitter accounts for accredited academic OHNS residency programs. Tweets published over a 6-month period (March to August 2019) were extracted. Tweets were categorized and analyzed for source (original versus retweet) and target audience (medical versus layman). A random sample of 100 tweets was used to identify patterns of content, which were then used to categorize additional tweets. We quantified the total number of likes or retweets by health care professionals. ResultsOf the 121 accredited programs, 35 (28.9%) had Twitter accounts. Of the 2526 tweets in the 6-month period, 1695 (67.10%) were original-content tweets. The majority of tweets (1283/1695, 75.69%) were targeted toward health care workers, most of which did not directly contain medical information (954/1283, 74.36%). These tweets contained information about the department’s trainees and education (349/954, 36.6%), participation at conferences (263/954, 27.6%), and research publications (112/954, 11.7%). Two-thirds of all tweets did not contain medical information. Medical professionals accounted for 1249/1362 (91.70%) of retweets and 5616/6372 (88.14%) of likes on original-content tweets. ConclusionsThe majority of Twitter usage by OHNS residency programs is for intra and interprofessional communication, and only a minority of tweets contain information geared toward the public. Communication and information sharing with patients is not the focus of OHNS departments on Twitter.https://mededu.jmir.org/2021/4/e25654 |
| spellingShingle | Deborah X Xie Emily F Boss C Matthew Stewart Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study JMIR Medical Education |
| title | Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_full | Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_fullStr | Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_short | Audience of Academic Otolaryngology on Twitter: Cross-sectional Study |
| title_sort | audience of academic otolaryngology on twitter cross sectional study |
| url | https://mededu.jmir.org/2021/4/e25654 |
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