Good practices in harnessing social media for scholarly discourse, knowledge translation, and education

Abstract

Introduction There still remains a gap between those who conduct science and those who engage in educating others about health sciences through various forms of social media. Few empirical studies have sought to define useful practices for engaging in social media for academic use in the health professions. Given the increasing importance of these platforms, we sought to define good practices and potential pitfalls with help of those respected for their work in this new field. Methods We conducted a qualitative study, guided by constructivist grounded theory principles, of 17 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Systems to support scholarly social media: a qualitative exploration of enablers and barriers to new scholarship in academic medicine

“…This corresponds with many of the hesitations expressed in early social media writing on eprofessionalism and the possible hazards of social media for students and clinicians. 2,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42] This intersects well with how individuals and their digital professional lives may develop as a unique phenomenon, alongside their real-life professional identity. 43 It also highlights how these two identities are inextricably intertwined and may intersect.…”

“…After our analysis, two research team members (ML, YY) conducted a full audit of our analysis trail in line with previous methodological descriptions 21 and our own prior work in this area. 2 This pairing of auditors was selected since they were balanced in their use of social media (ML used it mainly for personal tasks; YY used it more in the professional realm). Separately, each of our auditors were given full access to primary transcripts and the codebook.…”

“…Social media can no longer be ignored as a source of data for scholarly discourse and clinical work. 1,2 The recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how crucial social media can be in affecting not only our lives, but also public policy and information dissemination. [3][4][5][6][7] Social media can also allow users to rapidly gather new information for their professional development.…”

Pondering the Pandemic’s Problems: A Program Director’s Perspective

“…The pandemic further altered the importance of educators, who are now not just creators, but also moderators and curators [ 6 ] of the avalanche of online digital content. Harnessing the power of social media with #GITwitter and #MedEd [ 7 – 9 ] has helped me adjust to this new world; I encourage my trainees to do the same.…”

Instagram as a virtual art display for medical students

“…The use of social media as a teaching platform in medical education has grown in popularity over the past decade 1 and involves understanding the strengths of various platforms. 2 Instagram is readily accessible, popular among our students and colleagues, and fit our needs to display visual artwork, which made up a large number of student…”