In the pattern of the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels, you can be for, or against, the Iran deal – or for, or against, the utility of social media in dissemination of medical knowledge and clinical practice.
In the far corner, the defending champion, the curmudgeons of the old guard, for whom the journals and textbooks hold primacy. The American Academy of Neurology attempted to determine whether a “social media strategy” for dissemination of new clinical practice guidelines had any effect on patient or physician awareness. They published new guidelines regarding alternative medicine therapies and multiple sclerosis through their traditional member e-mails and literature. Then, they posted a podcast; a YouTube video; added Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube advertisting; and hosted a Twitter chat with Time magazine and others. Based on survey responses, they were not able to measure any increased awareness of the guidelines resulting from their social media interventions.
Then, the challenger: Radiopedia.org. This second study evaluates the online views of three articles concerning incidental thyroid nodules on CT and MRI. Two of the articles were in the American Journal of Neuroradiology and the American Journal of Roentgenology, and the third was hosted on Radiopedia.org. The Radiopedia blog – with some cross-polination and promotion by traditional means – received 32,675 page views, compared with 2,421 and 3,064 for the online journal publications, respectively. This matches the anecdotal experience of many blogging physicians, that their online content exposure far exceeds that of their traditional publications.
What’s my takeaway? Audience matters, content matters, and execution matters just as much as the medium. When engaging an audience like those attending or presenting at, say, a conference entitled “Social Media and Critical Care”, digital scholarship may easily exceed the value of traditional vehicles. Alternatively, for a topic as rockin’ as esoteric neurology guidelines, there might simply be a maximal ceiling of interested parties.
“The Impact of Social Media on Dissemination and Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Longitudinal Observational Study.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26272267
“Using Social Media to Share Your Radiology Research: How Effective Is a Blog Post?”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25959491