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Upgrading a Social Media Strategy to Increase Twitter Engagement During the Spring Annual Meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
  1. Eric S. Schwenk, MD*,
  2. Kellie M. Jaremko, MD, PhD,
  3. Rajnish K. Gupta, MD,
  4. Ankeet D. Udani, MD, MSEd§,
  5. Colin J.L. McCartney, PhD, MBChB, FRCA, FCARCSI, FRCPC,
  6. Anne Snively, MBA, CAE** and
  7. Edward R. Mariano, MD, MAS††
  1. *Department of Anesthesiology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
  2. Department of Anesthesiology, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
  4. §Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
  5. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  6. **American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
  7. ††Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
  1. correspondence: Eric S. Schwenk, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Suite 8130, Gibbon Bldg, 111 S 11th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107 (e-mail: Eric.Schwenk{at}jefferson.edu).

Abstract

Abstract Microblogs known as “tweets” are a rapid, effective method of information dissemination in health care. Although several medical specialties have described their Twitter conference experiences, Twitter-related data in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine are sparse. We therefore analyzed the Twitter content of 2 consecutive spring meetings of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine using publicly available online transcripts. We also examined the potential contribution of a targeted social media campaign on Twitter engagement during the conferences. The original Twitter meeting content was largely scientific in nature and created by meeting attendees, the majority of whom were nontrainee physicians. Physician trainees, however, represent an important and increasing minority of Twitter contributors. Physicians not in attendance predominantly contributed via retweeting original content, particularly picture-containing tweets, and thus increased reach to nonattendees. A social media campaign prior to meetings may help increase the reach of conference-related Twitter discussion.

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Footnotes

  • E.R.M. has received unrestricted educational program funding paid to his institution from Halyard Health (Alpharetta, Georgia) and B. Braun (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania). These companies had no input into any aspect of the present study design and implementation; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; or manuscript preparation. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

    Institutional affiliation of article: Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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