Twitter and Medical Education: Information and Inspiration

Science at the heart of medicine

Twitter and Medical Education:
Information and Inspiration
Paul Moniz, Managing Director, Communications and Marketing
David Flores, Social Media Manager

June 21, 2012

Why “Twitter”?

Science at the heart of medicine 8/23/2012 | 1

Learning Objectives

• 1. Find conversations by topic

• 2. Understand the “language of Twitter”

• 3. Use Twitter “tools” to engaging in, organize and
manage conversations

• 4. Learn to use Twitter for professional purposes


About Twitter

• Messages: 140 characters long (including spaces/links)

• Built for quick communications via mobile devices

• Shorthand developed to make communicating faster

• “Headline writing in a hurry”

• Share text, links, photos


The ABCs of Twitter

• A) – A forum to break news, exchange ideas

• B) – Learning tool to discover or share information

• C) – An effective branding platform


Writing for Twitter: Think “Short”

• 140 characters (including spaces)
• Lead with headlines/catchy phrases
• Use active verb, imagery or questions in your posts


Lingo: Do you Speak Twitter?

• Handle: Your username: @EinsteinMed
• Tweet: A message on Twitter
• Retweets (RT): Sharing messages from others on Twitter
• Hashtags (#): Symbols used to organize Tweets/find content
• Feed: Everything on your Twitter homepage
• Following: People/orgs you choose to follow
• Followers: People/orgs who follow your account
• Favorites: A list of favorite tweets
• Mentions: Messages addressing you using your
handle:@EinsteinMed Get with it!
• Direct Message: Private message sent only to you


Tweet and Retweet

• Tweet refers to a short message you’ve posted
• A Retweet is a “rebroadcast” of your message to all of
one’s followers. An “RT” appears before a posting
Tweet Retweet


Stages of Engagement

• Retweet (RT): “Hey, that’s interesting”
-RT@EinsteinMed wish I’d thought of it yesterday

• Modified tweet or “MT”: Like RT, but used to
alter/shorten the tweet to allow room for your comment
-MT@EinsteinMed wish I’d thought of it


Stages of Engagement

• @ reply: “Hey, you (@) – here’s what I think”
-Great idea @EinsteinMed wish I’d thought of it
yesterday
• @ reply (in rely to) with link/photo: “Hey, you (@), here’s
something related you might find interesting
-Great idea @EinsteinMed. Ck this out:
http://bit.ly/Kqcc7y

• Best practice: avoid starting tweet with @


Should I Reply or Mention?

@Reply Sent to attention of the person you’re talking to
• Only the target person notified (and your followers)
• Message starts with @username

@Mention Public attention for person addressed
• Target person, all their followers, your followers
• Message starts with anything other than @username


Example: Reply and Mention

@Reply Starting with @ keeps message
out of recipient’s feed
@Mention

Any character before
@ symbol = mention


Building a Nest

• Choose a name and image (RESIST THE EGG!)
• Complete your profile: Highlight expertise and interests
• Determine your content buckets: “I tweet about…”


Your Nest – The Twitter Homepage

Compose a tweet Tweets &
Retweets
from the
people you
follow
Popular search
terms and trends
on Twitter


Diagram of a Tweet

“@” + username
calls that user’s
attention to
“shortened”
message
link

Actions you can
take after posting

Users who’ve added this
message to their list of
favorites


Diagram of a ReTweet

RT + @user =
referencing
2nd RT indicates original message
@EinsteinMed is creator
fowarding this
message

# Hastags =
easier way to find
groups of tweets

Additional text: When the RT was
posted, the tool used to post it and a way
to copy a tweet to a website.


Following the Flock: Why Twitter Matters


Keeping Pace

• Global influence: tweets
from all over the world

• Ability to significantly
amplify message:
>140 mil. on Twitter:
340 mil. messages/day

• Techniques and tools can
help prevent overload

http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/tom/


Search.Twitter.Com: The “Google” of Twitter

Trends = most popular items on Twitter at that moment
Operators = advanced ways to search such as hashtags (#)


Hashtags (#)

• Add # before a word or phrase

• Make it easier for you and others
to find

• Search # plus word or phrase to
find more

• Don’t add too many hastags to a
single tweet


Lists: Corral Your Content

• Twitter lets you create 20 lists

• Organize followers and followed

• Unlimited users per list

• Group users however you like:
-Common interests, industry, etc.

• Keep lists private or public


Healthcare Hashtags

The Healthcare Hashtag Project symplur.com/healthcare-hashtag
• healthcarehashtag.com


Who to Follow


Interesting and Interested People

• Figure out who or what is interesting to YOU

• Use search.twitter.com, Heathcare Hashtag Project to find content.
e.g., #medical education

• Don’t decide only by # of followers or ratio: followers/following
Let CONTENT guide you

• Prominent orgs on Twitter: NIH, FDA, WHO, U.N.

• Individuals have used Twitter to boost their SM “creds”

• More prominent: less likely to follow you


Twitter Influencers in Health Care/Meded

• Wendy Sue Swanson, Pediatrician, Mom @seattlemamadoc

• Dr. Kevin Pho, Internist, Runs Group Blog @kevinmd

• Dr. Kent Bottles, Pathologist, SM technology @kentbottles

•
Farris Timimi, M.D. Medical Director, Mayo Social Media @ FarrisTimimi
•


Twitter Chats

Groups virtually gather at
prescribed time
Discuss a given subject using a
single hashtag (#)
Chat leader usually gathers
tweets for later reading
Popular: #hcsm #MDChat
Follow using: www.tweetchat.com

More chats: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/how-to-join-a-twitter-hashtag-chat_b1650


Social Media Dashboards: Your Home Base

• See Tweets, Retweets, Mentions, Lists and more at a glance

• Post immediately or schedule tweets for later

• Receive feedback on how well tweets are received

• Most free to use

• Most popular: Tweetdeck and Hootsuite

• Matter of personal preference


Tweetdeck Close Up


Tweetdeck Demonstration: Hello Christina!

You Know You
Want to Follow Me!

I Like…..

-Medical Education
-Parasitology
-Ballet


Fly Safely

Do
Share information that matters
Show your personality
Follow people who interest you
Don’t
Share detailed personal information
Engage in arguments publicly
Share anything you wouldn’t want your family to see


6 Quick Tips

• Lurk First
• Actively Listen
• Offer opinions/resources
• Be consistent
• Be yourself
• Have a sense of humor


BONUS: What is this?


SHAMELESS PLUG…..

We’re looking for bloggers!
Have a blog idea? Submit a post to:
blogs@einstein.yu.edu


For More Information:

Connect with us @

einstein.yu.edu/administration/communications-public-
affairs/media/twitter-resources.asp
einstein.yu.edu/news
einstein.yu.edu/social-media


Twitter and Medical Education: Information and Inspiration

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