Four members of the 2013 Twitter Team used hashtags and social media platforms to document the 2013 Academic Surgical Congress. They analyzed 434 tweets from 58 users, finding that 64% were original tweets and topics included presidential sessions, research, and social activities. The top 9 tweeters accounted for 76% of tweets. Tweets reached an audience of over 474,000 and allowed for broad promotion and information sharing about the meeting.

1. Use of Twitter to Document the
2013 Academic Surgical Congress
Amalia Cochran, MD
Lillian Kao, MD, MS
NirajGusani, MD, MS
James Suliburk, MD
Benedict Nwomeh, MD, MPH

2. The authors have no disclosures that relate to
the content of this talk.

3. Background

4. Methods
Activity Coordination
• Four official members of the 2013 Twitter Team
• #2013ASC was prominently promoted
Data aggregation and analysis
• Twdocs© and TweetReach© were used to aggregate
data
• Development of a categorization system for Tweets
• Tweets coded by two co-authors (AC & LK), with
discrepancies resolved by a third (BN)

5. Categorization System
Tweet Category
Example
Presidential Session
“@kibbemr highlights different motivations for #
choosing surgery specialty among Baby Boomers vs
Gen-X vs Gen-Y”
“Women's mentorship lunch =awesome. Good 2c
many other men attending. Diversity isn't just a
women's issue, its an everyone issue”
Plenary Session/ Keynote Speaker
Research Session
“Work from @bcmhouston showed alarming issues
with handoffs, introduced their PACT method”
Promotional Tweet
“Welcome to #2013ASC! Download your meeting
program here http://t.co/LuT3WkuE “
Social Tweet
“Damn surgeons... The hotel gym is literally packed.
What is with all the leading by example?”
Other
“@AcademicSurgery How about tweeting out a map
of the hotel so we can find our way around?”

6. Results- General Information
434 Tweets from 58 unique users
• 64% original Tweets
• 10% replies
• 36% modified Tweets or re-Tweets
19 users in attendance, 18 of these members of
AAS and/ or SUS
Top 9 Tweeters were responsible for 76% of
#2013ASC Tweets
• 4 of top 9 were Twitter Team members

7. Top #2013ASC Tweeters
Twitter Handle
Individual or Organization
Number of #ASC2013
Tweets atttributed
@bnwomeh
Ben Nwomeh
117
@jsuliburk
James Suliburk
57
@AmaliaCochranMD
Amalia Cochran
43
@AcademicSurgery
AAS Organizational Acct.
40
@NirajGusani
NirajGusani
25
@LillianKao1
Lillian Kao
16
@WomenSurgeons
AWS Organizational Acct.
11
@vegansurgeon
Marie Crandall
11
@drmlb
Mary Brandt
10

8. Results- Data Aggregation
Meeting Tweets produced 474, 776
“impressions” by followers
• 6,625 people saw >7 #2013ASC Tweets
80% of impressions from three “high-impact”
Twitter users
• @bnwomeh, @NirajGusani, and @drmlb
Reach: Exposure ratio of 0.120
• Measures depth of topic penetration
• Consistent with a meeting of local/ topical interest

9. Results- Topic Coding

10. Conclusions
Active management of social media allows for
broad promotion of meeting activities and
dissemination of information
• Reach: Exposure ratio compares favorably to
other medical meetings
Many meeting-related Tweets are social in
nature
• Also found at ASCO
• Opportunity for social connection, collaboration

11. Take home message?
• Social media is a useful tool
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Publicity
Collaboration
Promotion
Dissemination