INFLUENCERS IN MEDICINE
( continued from page 9 ) have never used social media before , then try searching for topics of interest and leaders in your area of interest to follow . Take note of what catches your eye if your goal is to develop your content , but content creation is not the only way to assist in educating the public and promoting accurate health information on social media . Again , remember the algorithm . It will assume that any content that has more views , likes , comments and shares will be more interesting to other users as well .
If you follow a physician ’ s account and like one of their posts that will push that same post out to more users . I was a “ lurker ,” ( someone who viewed content without commenting or creating my own ) long before I moved into content creation . If content creation is your goal , see what works for accounts that you like to follow . What do you enjoy talking about ? What topic could you talk about for hours ? What is your passion ? What do you wish patients or other HCPs knew ? I find social media to be a great outlet for creativity . The opportunities for content creation are endless but it is generally recommended to stick to a niche . This is what draws your followers to your page and what they come to expect from you . For HCPs on social media this tends to be our specialty , but what is your style and how do you want to share that message ? Some do with comedic sketches (@ drglaucomflecken ), trending sounds (@ thepedipals and @ vickichanmd ), topics of their specialty (@ thebabybraindoc , @ ScottGBickel and @ Dr _ MonalisaKY ), hula-hooping (@ rubin _ allergy ), discussion of current events and politics ( Dr . Free Hess @ thepedimom and @ drjaimefriedman ), some share their research (@ LakhotiaNeuro and @ PeterHotez ) and others share aspects of what they see on a day to day basis in their work and their families (@ dr . amnahusain , @ drnicolebaldwin and @ JustinMorganMD ). Find the style that fits you and your target audience . There are even accounts on each platform that offer advice on how to grow your account on that platform and others that walk new users step by step through the process of content creation .
Are there risks and what are the pitfalls and how do you stay safe ?
Have separate personal and professional accounts . Set the privacy settings on personal accounts as high as possible , some people prefer not to use their real name or at least not the name they practice under for their personal accounts . Do not accept any “ friend ” or “ follow ” requests from patients on personal accounts . While professional accounts are often public and patients may find their doctor , this is not the forum for specific medical advice . The profile of the account can state the content is not specific medical advice . Direct messages ( DMs ) or comments asking specific questions can be reminded that social media is not secure so you cannot give them specific medical advice . Patient information cannot be shared online . Just as it is a HIPAA violation to disclose identifying health information in the real world , the same is true on social media . It can be tempting to discuss an interesting case , but be cautious to remove any identifying information . I have seen this happen when images are shared that include a name or date of birth . And then there are internet trolls . Trolls are internet personalities that post inflammatory messages with the intent of provoking an emotional response or manipulating others ’ perceptions . Depending on the platform you may be able to limit the malicious interactions with your content . You may be able to turn off comments completely or limit them to users who you know and approve . You can delete comments on your posts and block certain users to avoid their interaction with your content . Trolls are there to wreak havoc and cause controversy with the intent to disrupt conversation . 3 “ Do not feed the trolls ” has become a common adage to tell others not to give internet trolls attention . These users are best blocked , and one should not attempt to interact with them . There is an account with the handle @ ShotsHeard whose mission is to defend and protect vaccine advocates from coordinated anti-vaccine social media attacks . The network of physicians on social media is also there to defend each other by commenting and interacting with other physician creators ’ content and by defending each other from online attacks .
In the past , patients would just “ Google ” their symptoms , but now they may search for a hashtag , follow an account or join an online community to obtain health information . Physicians can decide if we want to be a part of the conversation or not , but our patients will be there with or without us .
1 . Ventola , C . Lee . 2014 . Social Media and Health Care Professionals : Benefits , Risks , and Best Practices . National Library of Medicine . Accessed October 29 , 2022 . https :// www . ncbi . nlm . nih . gov / pmc / articles / PMC4103576 /
2 . Dixon , S . 2022 . Number of global social network users 2018-2027 . Statista . Accessed October 29 , 2022 . https :// www . statista . com / statistics / 278414 / number-of-worldwide-social-network-users /
3 . Stec , Carly . 2020 . Ultimate Glossary of Terms You Should Know . Hubspot . Accessed October 29 . 2022 . https :// blog . hubspot . com / marketing / social-media-terms
4 . Dobuski , Michael . 2022 . Gen Z is Bypassing Google for TikTok as a Search Engine . ABC News . Accessed October 31 , 2022 . https :// abcnews . go . com / Technology / gen-bypassing-google-tiktok-search-engine / story ? id = 88493981
Dr . Felton is a pediatrician with Norton Healthcare and UofL Department of Pediatrics .
@ heather . felton . md on Instagram @ HeatherFeltonMD on Twitter @ heather . felton . md on TikTok
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