LeadershipOriginal articleEnriched Audience Engagement Through Twitter: Should More Academic Radiology Departments Seize the Opportunity?
Introduction
The microblogging social network Twitter has more than 280 million active users, who, as a whole, “tweet” more than 500 million messages per day [1]. Such messages can contain up to 140 characters, can link to related articles or other online media, and become instantly available to the online community via any web-enabled device. The immense networks of individuals from many backgrounds facilitated by Twitter allow effective widespread and rapid dissemination of user-generated content [2]. Accordingly, Twitter has developed into an important primary mode of communication, with individuals and organizations in many fields effectively using Twitter for customer relations, advocacy, and public outreach. For example, in health care, Twitter has been applied for purposes of education, collaborative journal clubs, and even the provision of low-cost medical care [3]. Radiologists, in particular, are actively engaging in Twitter conversation, as evidenced by increasing participation during the RSNA annual meeting [4] and real-time journal-based “tweet chats” [5].
Some academic radiology departments (ARDs) are also using Twitter to engage numerous stakeholders in radiology-focused social media dialogue at an organizational level. However, the use of Twitter by ARDs has not been formally studied, to our knowledge. Therefore, in this study, we evaluate the use of Twitter by ARDs in the United States. Our assessment includes a determination of the fraction of ARDs actively using Twitter, characterization of the content of original tweets and links provided by ARDs, and consideration of facets yielding effective use of Twitter by an ARD. Such insights could help inform broader and more effective use of social media by ARDs in the future and provide a framework for additional ARDs to establish their own Twitter accounts.
Section snippets
Methods
Because this study did not meet criteria for human subjects research, it did not require review by our institutional review board. We used publicly available data from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Medical Association's (AMA) Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access System (FREIDA) to compile a list of ARDs within the United States 6, 7. We then searched Twitter to identify those ARDs with Twitter accounts. During this
Results
Among US ARDs, 8.2% (15 of 183) had Twitter accounts, and 5.5% (10 of 183) had accounts that were active during the immediately preceding 3-month period. Two of the active accounts were for subsections within ARDs (the pediatric radiology division at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the neuroradiology division at the University of Utah School of Medicine). The earliest tweet by any active account occurred in June 2009. The 10 active accounts averaged 711 ± 925 followers
Discussion
Our study highlights the use of Twitter by ARDs to engage various audiences through a broad array of content. The earliest tweet by any active ARD was in June 2009, more than 3 years after Twitter’s launch, and only 5.5% of ARDs had active accounts. Nonetheless, our findings demonstrate the potential effectiveness of Twitter as a communication tool, as the 3 most active ARDs each had more than 1,000 followers and broadcast tweets at frequencies greater than 1 tweet per day, on average.
ARDs
Take-Home Points
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Only 5.5% of ARDs had active Twitter accounts.
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The 3 most active ARDs each had more than 1,000 followers and broadcast more than 1 tweet per day on average.
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Approximately half of tweet content by active ARDs provided promotional content for the department or institution, for instance related to research, accomplishments, awards, upcoming events and lectures, as well as other hospital-related news items.
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Additional areas of Twitter use by ARDs included radiology-related medical education, community
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The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.