Neurosurgery and the rise of academic social media: what neurosurgeons should know

Abstract

ocial media has evolved to take on a major role in the personal and professional lives of people across the world. As of 2016, Pew Research Center data es timates that 86% of US adults used the Internet, of whom 79%, 24%, 32%, and 29% used Facebook, Twitter, Insta gram, and LinkedIn, respectively. 12 In parallel, social media use among clinicians, including neurosurgeons, neurosurgical departments, and neurosurgical journals, has increased exponentially over the past 3 years. 2,4,6,10,11,19 Given this dramatic rise and the increasing emphasis be ing placed on social media in professional networking, pa tient recruitment and education, and the dissemination or discussion of new scientific knowledge, our objective was to highlight the potential benefits and risks of developing a social media presence for members of the neurosurgical community in particular, as well as offer a preliminary guide for the novice social media user.

Social‐media use and academic performance among undergraduates in biology

“…reading novels/textbooks) are diminishing, and activities that require multitasking are becoming more common (i.e. web/electronic textbooks) [6][7][8][9]. Interestingly, although the use of e-books (e-books) has become more common in today's society, the use of university e-textbooks is still unpopular among college students [2,9,10].…”

A Quantitative Analysis of Social Media to Determine Trends in Brain Tumor Care and Treatment

“…Social media is an increasingly common way to learn, discuss, and share information [1,[3][4]8]. Previous studies have analyzed social media utilization in brain aneurysms, vagal nerve stimulators placement, and pediatric hydrocephalus, but, to our knowledge, there has not been an evaluation of social media utilization for brain tumors, particularly glioblastoma [1,[9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

The Neurosurgical Atlas: advancing neurosurgical education in the digital age

“…4,5,7,13,20,22 Neurosurgeons also have begun to recognize this potential; academic journals have been publishing articles on the topic since 2016. 2,3,16 The consensus in each of these instances is that social media has evolved to take on an ever-larger role in our daily lives and that those in the medical field are presented with an opportunity to use the positive aspects of this development to their benefit.…”