The study surveyed 197 medical bloggers to learn about their demographics, blogging habits, and motivations. It found that most medical bloggers are male physicians between 30-49 years old who spend over 20 hours per week online. They use blogging to share knowledge, influence others, and express themselves creatively. Maintaining high journalistic standards by including original sources and verifying facts is important to many bloggers. The goal of the study was to better understand this influential group within the medical community.

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

2. Scientific paper
published in . . .
Text

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

4. objective

5. Investigate the
characteristics
of medical
bloggers and
their
blogs

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

7. methods

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

9. 1I. find medical blogs

10. 1I. find medical blogs
740 total
627 unique
331 active
197 included

11. 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

12. III. send survey invitations

13. IV. sit and wait

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

15. results

16. 58%
30 - 49 years old

17. *
*
Average medical blogger

18. 59%
male
75%
white
34%
physician

19. heavy internet users

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

21. 96%
utilize a broadband
Internet connection

22. 99%
get medical news
from the Internet

23. 86%
get medical news
from other blogs

24. 66%
get medical news
from RSS feeds

25. 24%
get medical news
from podcasts

26. Male bloggers used RSS to get
medical news more than females

27. 25%
used a
pseudonym

28. 80%
preferred to write at home

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

30. RSS feeds where offered to readers by
89%

31. female bloggers were less likely to offer
RSS feeds

32. 54%
published a scientific
paper
41%
published a newspaper article
44%
published a book or
a chapter in a book

33. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

40. 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

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

42. 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

43. 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