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Original article
Enriched Audience Engagement Through Twitter: Should More Academic Radiology Departments Seize the Opportunity?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2015.02.016Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate use of the microblogging social network Twitter by academic radiology departments (ARDs) in the United States.

Methods

Twitter was searched to identify all accounts corresponding with United States ARDs. All original tweets from identified accounts over a recent 3-month period (August to October 2014) were archived. Measures of account activity, as well as tweet and link content, were summarized.

Results

Fifteen ARDs (8.2%) had Twitter accounts. Ten (5.5%) had “active” accounts, with ≥1 tweet over the 3-month period. Active accounts averaged 711 ± 925 followers (maximum, 2,885) and 61 ± 93 tweets (maximum, 260) during the period. Among 612 tweets from active accounts, content most commonly related to radiology-related education (138), dissemination of departmental research (102), general departmental or hospital promotional material (62), departmental awards or accomplishments (60), upcoming departmental lectures (59), other hospital-related news (55), medical advice or information for patients (38), local community events or news (29), social media and medicine (27), and new departmental or hospital hires or expansion (19). Eighty percent of tweets (490 of 612) included 315 unique external links. Most frequent categories of link sources were picture-, video-, and music-sharing websites (89); the ARD’s website or blog (83); peer-reviewed journal articles (40); the hospital’s or university’s website (34), the lay press (28), and Facebook (14).

Conclusions

Twitter provides ARDs the opportunity to engage their own staff members, the radiology community, the department's hospital, and patients, through a broad array of content. ARDs frequently used Twitter for promotional and educational purposes. Because only a small fraction of ARDs actively use Twitter, more departments are encouraged to take advantage of this emerging communication tool.

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

  • Only 5.5% of ARDs had active Twitter accounts.

  • The 3 most active ARDs each had more than 1,000 followers and broadcast more than 1 tweet per day on average.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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