Social Media in Medical Education

Cynthia Greenan, MLS, cynthia.greenan@mssm.eduJonathan M Flacker MD, AGSF, jflacke@emory.edu

ObjectivesBy the end of this session the learner will be able to:

• Define the concept of Social Media• Describe 3 examples of how Social Media may be

applicable to their education program

What are you using?

Define Social Media as a concept• Social media are internet-based applications that

allow you to quickly and easily connect with, communicate with and collaborate with other people

• They usually employ functionality such as friending/following, sharing/retweeting/posting and liking/favoriting/+1ing

Image by Slava Baranskyi http://www.flickr.com/photos/woofer_kyyiv/3581392721/

Types of Social Media

File sharing – “Cloud” applications• Examples: Google docs, Dropbox, Slideshare• Share files with other people and collaborate • Always have the latest version • Some let you work simultaneously “in the cloud”

(on the internet), while others require you to download to edit

Wiki• Examples: Wikipedia, Medpedia, POGOe wiki• Etymology: to hurry; quick, fast

(dictionary.reference.com)• Many people working on a large project all at

once

Media Sharing• Examples: FlickR, Youtube, iTunesU• Easy way to share media files• Find pictures, video, audio• Often can be rated (like, stars, etc) • Upload your own creations to share with

others

Blogs• Use blogging software: Wordpress,

Movable Type• Write about whatever you want• Readers can comment • One-sided if the writer can't engage• Can be a time sink trying to keep up. 

Microblogging• Example: Twitter• Like a blog, but much shorter• Twitter has a 140 character limit• Like texting, all of your followers at once• Use hashtags to add your tweets to a

conversation

Social Networking Site• Examples: Facebook, LinkedIn• Broadcast your thoughts or photos to your

“friends” • Follow pages and groups• Separate personal from professional

Discussion Forum• Example: POGOe Discussion Forum• An informal conversation over the internet• Easily archived and searchable

Rules of the Road

Security Settings• Make sure you know who has access to

your content. • Be careful what you put out on the

internet: Assume the “anti-vegas” rule• Consider whether or not to friend

patients/trainees.

Follow guidelines• Find out if your institution has specific

guidelines for professional social media use

• HIPAA rules still apply• Consider the AMA social media guidelines

Relevance to Medical Education

Sharing knowledge with peers• You have specific experiences and

knowledge that others can benefit from• You can learn from or get help from

others• Follow “thought leaders” who will

prescreen content for you• Connect with colleagues, learn from

experts, share resources

Connect with your trainees• Can provide new and exciting ways to

connect with and teach your trainees• Keep up with the increasingly tech savvy

generations of new learners

In short…

Play around with the different types of social media. Learn and have fun.

And on that note, let’s try some things out. Later, you can try some of the things on this list:  http://ow.ly/78n8x

References• Movabletype.org• Google docs – docs.google.com• Dropbox.com• Slideshare.net• Wordpress.org• Facebook.com• Youtube.com• Linkedin.com• Wikipedia.org• FlickR.com• iTunesU - www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/• dictionary.reference.com/browse/wiki• tweetchat.com/room/dwrf11