Examining the
Medical Blogosphere:
An Online Survey of
Medical Bloggers
Ivor Kovic +
Ileana Lulic +
Gordana Brumini +

Scientific paper
published in . . .
Text

Open Access peer-reviewed journal
#6 journal in the health sciences category
#2 in the health informatics category
Impact factor: 3.0

objective

Investigate the
characteristics
of medical
bloggers and
their
blogs

Investigate the
characteristics
of medical
bloggers and
their
blogs
+ demographics
+ internet and blogging habits
+ motivations for blogging
+ practices associated with journalism

methods

I. design the survey
Parts Questions
internet and blogging habits 7
blog characteristics 19
blogging motivation 3
demographics 8
total 37

1I. find medical blogs

1I. find medical blogs
740 total
627 unique
331 active
197 included

1I. find medical blogs
740 total - found on all sources
627 unique - between sources
English-language medical blogs
331 active - posts within last month
direct contact to the author
197 included - e-mail or contact form

III. send survey invitations

IV. sit and wait

V. analyze gathered data
Pearson’s Chi-Square test
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient
Mann-Whitney U test

results

58%
30 - 49 years old

*
*
Average medical blogger

59%
male
75%
white
34%
physician

heavy internet users

56%
spending 20 or more hours
per week on the Internet

96%
utilize a broadband
Internet connection

99%
get medical news
from the Internet

86%
get medical news
from other blogs

66%
get medical news
from RSS feeds

24%
get medical news
from podcasts

Male bloggers used RSS to get
medical news more than females

25%
used a
pseudonym

80%
preferred to write at home

Main blog topics were . . .
Specific medical specialty
Information technology in medicine
Public health

RSS feeds where offered to readers by
89%

female bloggers were less likely to offer
RSS feeds

54%
published a scientific
paper
41%
published a newspaper article
44%
published a book or
a chapter in a book

When it comes to journalism . . .
most frequently
included links to original source of material &
spent extra time verifying facts
rarely
tried to obtain permission to
post copyrighted material

When it comes to journalism . . .
female medical bloggers
get permission for
posting copyrighted
material more often

When it comes to journalism . . .
Bloggers who have
published a scientific paper
were more likely to
quote directly other people
or media

When it comes to journalism . . .
those blogging
under their real name
were more inclined to
include links to original sources

Major motivations for blogging were . . .
sharing practical knowledge/skills with others
influencing the way other people think
expressing oneself creatively

No reasons for blogging . . .
making money
staying in touch with friends and family

received attention for their blogs from . . .
99% 78% 66% 47%
other bloggers coworkers news media family

Recipe for getting
news media attention
more years of experience as a blogger
+
more hours per week spent on the Internet
+
acquiring medical news from other blogs

We would like to thank all medical bloggers
who participated in our survey . . .

Examining the Medical Blogosphere:
An Online Survey of Medical Bloggers
Read the complete article at Journal of Medical Internet Research
http://www.jmir.org/2008/3/e28/HTML
Ivor Kovic, MD
Rijeka University School of Medicine, Croatia
ivorkovic@gmail.com
http://www.ivor-kovic.com
Ileana Lulic, MD
Rijeka University School of Medicine, Croatia
ileanalulic@gmail.com
Gordana Brumini, PhD
Department of Medical Informatics, Rijeka University School of Medicine, Croatia
bgord@medri.hr

Image credits:
Slide 1: Matthew Hurst, http://datamining.typepad.com/
Slide 2: iStockphoto, JMIR
Slide 3: JMIR
Slide 4-7: iStockphoto
Slide 9: Yahoo, Trusted.MD, Medgadget, Medlogs
Slide 12-25: iStockphoto
Slide 26: http://www.variawa.co.za
Slide 27, 28: iStockphoto
Slide 29-32: Jompa Hallberg, http://www.variawa.co.za, Getty Images, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co
Slide 33-36: iStockphoto
Slide 37: CBS Studios Inc.
Slide 38-41: iStockphoto