Plastic Surgery Faces the Web: Analysis of the Popular Social Media for Plastic Surgeons

Abstract

Background:The use of social media is growing tremendously along with its impact on the practice of plastic surgery, for better or for worse. Patients are increasingly using social media to obtain information about either the procedure or the surgeon.Objectives:The aims of this study were to examine social media posting regarding plastic surgery and to analyze successful online communication methods of the plastic surgeons with the public.Methods:A prospective analysis of 3 popular, global social media networks was performed, using the English language key phrases “plastic surgery” and “#plastic_surgery.” Three hundred posts related to plastic surgery published on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook in November 2017 were assessed by the following parameters: author identity, subject (self-promotion, educational, commercial, and personal posts), “social media currency” (likes, shares, comments, and views), and if special effects (videos, photos, etc.) or viral subjects such as reality stars or shaming were utilized.Results:Sixty-three percentage of the posts on Instagram originated with plastic surgeons, compared with 18% on Facebook and only 13% on YouTube (P < 0.01); together, the plastic surgeons’ posts comprise 31% of the total posts, whereas 49% of posts published by commercial companies (P < 0.01). Most of the posts on Instagram were self-promotional (83%), in comparison to Facebook (29%) or YouTube (6%); P < 0.01. YouTube posts are more personal in nature compared with Instagram and Facebook [39%, 7%, 9%, respectively (P < 0.01)]. Educational content in the posts accounts for only 16% of them, P < 0.01. Shaming is seen in 21% of the posts, especially in Facebook (39%), and mainly related to famous public figures (25%); P < 0.05. Celebrity endorsed posts received more attention in every aspect of social media currency (likes, comments, shares, and views). The use of images of women attracts attention and is widely used in social media posts of plastic surgery (68%). Posts that chose to include videos (22%) are generously rewarded. Online shaming also attracts attention, mostly found in Facebook (39%), and mainly of a public figure (25%). The 10 most powerful attention drawing motives were jokes, attractive female plastic surgeons, celebrities, personal stories, provocative surgeries, videos or photos of surgeries, sex, shaming, and patient education.Conclusion:Social media have become an important tool for self-promotion and a means to providing better customer service. This trend applies to the plastic surgeon as well. The study’s main insights were to use Instagram, personal stories, educational post, videos and other unique inputs, and involve celebrities in the posts. In general, it would be wise to invest and understand these communication platforms, as they have become the path to dominate the field.

The New Era of Marketing in Plastic Surgery: A Systematic Review and Algorithm of Social Media and Digital Marketing

“…Six studies were included in content recommendations, 19 , 23–27 and 12 studies were included in platform recommendations. 8 , 19 , 27–36 Two studies were included in both categories. 19 , 27 Of the studies included under content recommendations, the positive recommendations included using descriptive keywords such as “aesthetic,” “cosmetic,” and “reconstruction.” The studies also recommended focusing on aesthetic or disease components without highlighting negative images of disfiguring illnesses.…”

Instagram as a Window to Societal Perspective on Mental Health, Gender, and Race: Observational Pilot Study

“…This method yielded 128 photos coded by two investigators into photo categories (action, objectification, selfie, supplement, or other). Naftali et al used two coders (an experienced social media user and a social media expert) to analyze 300 photos from Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, using the search term #plastic_surgery on Instagram [24]. Variables analyzed by coders included the poster's identity, photo subject (self-promotional, educational, commercial, or personal), and whether the photo featured "shaming.…”

“…Like our study, these works utilized hashtags to generate their database of photos and multiple human coders [21][22][23][24]. Our project's methods are more robust in that three human coders were utilized, and data were collected over 2 weeks to create a more randomized data set.…”

Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data

“…1 2 3 In the last decade, surgeons and patients have started to use social media as a tool for marketing and engaging in dialogue about plastic surgery. 4 5 6 7 Prior research has investigated the top plastic surgery “influencers” on Twitter, the veracity of information about plastic surgery published on YouTube, and broad characterizations of the type of dialogue about plastic surgery occurring over Twitter. 8 9 10 11 While these studies represent early ventures into the area of social media data analyses, there is an untapped opportunity to leverage the massive amounts of data published on these platforms to gain insight into the public's understanding and interest in plastic surgery.…”