Twitter and Medical Education: Information and Inspiration

June 21, 2012

Twitter and Medical Education:Information and Inspiration

Paul Moniz, Managing Director, Communications and MarketingDavid Flores, Social Media Manager

Science at the heart of medicine

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Why “Twitter”?

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Learning Objectives

• 1. Find conversations by topic

• 2. Understand the “language of Twitter”

• 3. Use Twitter “tools” to engaging in, organize and manage conversations

• 4. Learn to use Twitter for professional purposes

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About Twitter

• Messages: 140 characters long (including spaces/links)

• Built for quick communications via mobile devices

• Shorthand developed to make communicating faster

• “Headline writing in a hurry”

• Share text, links, photos

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The ABCs of Twitter

• A) – A forum to break news, exchange ideas

• B) – Learning tool to discover or share information

• C) – An effective branding platform

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Writing for Twitter: Think “Short”

• 140 characters (including spaces)• Lead with headlines/catchy phrases • Use active verb, imagery or questions in your posts

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Lingo: Do you Speak Twitter?

• Handle: Your username: @EinsteinMed• Tweet: A message on Twitter• Retweets (RT): Sharing messages from others on Twitter• Hashtags (#): Symbols used to organize Tweets/find content• Feed: Everything on your Twitter homepage• Following: People/orgs you choose to follow• Followers: People/orgs who follow your account• Favorites: A list of favorite tweets• Mentions: Messages addressing you using your

handle:@EinsteinMed Get with it!• Direct Message: Private message sent only to you

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Tweet and Retweet

• Tweet refers to a short message you’ve posted• A Retweet is a “rebroadcast” of your message to all of

one’s followers. An “RT” appears before a posting Tweet Retweet

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Stages of Engagement

• Retweet (RT): “Hey, that’s interesting” -RT@EinsteinMed wish I’d thought of it yesterday

• Modified tweet or “MT”: Like RT, but used to alter/shorten the tweet to allow room for your comment

-MT@EinsteinMed wish I’d thought of it

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Stages of Engagement

• @ reply: “Hey, you (@) – here’s what I think” -Great idea @EinsteinMed wish I’d thought of it yesterday• @ reply (in rely to) with link/photo: “Hey, you (@), here’s

something related you might find interesting-Great idea @EinsteinMed. Ck this out: http://

bit.ly/Kqcc7y

• Best practice: avoid starting tweet with @

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Should I Reply or Mention?

@Reply Sent to attention of the person you’re talking to • Only the target person notified (and your followers)• Message starts with @username

@Mention Public attention for person addressed• Target person, all their followers, your followers• Message starts with anything other than @username

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Example: Reply and Mention

@Reply @Mention

Any character before @ symbol = mention

Starting with @ keeps message out of recipient’s feed

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Building a Nest

• Choose a name and image (RESIST THE EGG!)• Complete your profile: Highlight expertise and interests• Determine your content buckets: “I tweet about…”

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Your Nest – The Twitter Homepage

Tweets & Retweets from the people you follow

Popular search terms and trends on Twitter

Compose a tweet

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Diagram of a Tweet

“@” + username calls that user’s attention to message“shortened”

link

Actions you can take after posting

Users who’ve added this message to their list of favorites

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Diagram of a ReTweet

RT + @user = referencing original message creator

Additional text: When the RT was posted, the tool used to post it and a way to copy a tweet to a website.

2nd RT indicates @EinsteinMed is fowarding this message

# Hastags = easier way to find groups of tweets

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Following the Flock: Why Twitter Matters

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Keeping Pace

http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/tom/

• Global influence: tweets from all over the world

• Ability to significantly amplify message:

>140 mil. on Twitter: 340 mil. messages/day

• Techniques and tools can help prevent overload

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Search.Twitter.Com: The “Google” of Twitter

Trends = most popular items on Twitter at that momentOperators = advanced ways to search such as hashtags (#)

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Hashtags (#)

• Add # before a word or phrase

• Make it easier for you and others to find

• Search # plus word or phrase to find more

• Don’t add too many hastags to a single tweet

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Lists: Corral Your Content

• Twitter lets you create 20 lists • Organize followers and followed

• Unlimited users per list

• Group users however you like:

-Common interests, industry, etc.

• Keep lists private or public

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Healthcare Hashtags

The Healthcare Hashtag Project symplur.com/healthcare-hashtag

• healthcarehashtag.com

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Who to Follow

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Interesting and Interested People

• Figure out who or what is interesting to YOU

• Use search.twitter.com, Heathcare Hashtag Project to find content. e.g., #medical education

• Don’t decide only by # of followers or ratio: followers/following Let CONTENT guide you

• Prominent orgs on Twitter: NIH, FDA, WHO, U.N.

• Individuals have used Twitter to boost their SM “creds”

• More prominent: less likely to follow you

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Twitter Influencers in Health Care/Meded

• Wendy Sue Swanson, Pediatrician, Mom @seattlemamadoc

• Dr. Kevin Pho, Internist, Runs Group Blog @kevinmd

• Dr. Kent Bottles, Pathologist, SM technology @kentbottles

• Farris Timimi, M.D. Medical Director, Mayo Social Media @ FarrisTimimi

•

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Twitter Chats

Groups virtually gather at prescribed time

Discuss a given subject using a single hashtag (#)

Chat leader usually gathers tweets for later reading

Popular: #hcsm #MDChat Follow using: www.tweetchat.com

More chats: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/how-to-join-a-twitter-hashtag-chat_b1650

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Social Media Dashboards: Your Home Base

• See Tweets, Retweets, Mentions, Lists and more at a glance

• Post immediately or schedule tweets for later

• Receive feedback on how well tweets are received

• Most free to use

• Most popular: Tweetdeck and Hootsuite

• Matter of personal preference

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Tweetdeck Close Up

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Tweetdeck Demonstration: Hello Christina!

You Know You Want to Follow Me!

I Like…..

-Medical Education-Parasitology-Ballet

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Fly Safely

Do Share information that matters

Show your personalityFollow people who interest you

Don’t Share detailed personal information Engage in arguments publicly

Share anything you wouldn’t want your family to see

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6 Quick Tips

• Lurk First• Actively Listen• Offer opinions/resources• Be consistent• Be yourself• Have a sense of humor

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BONUS: What is this?

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SHAMELESS PLUG…..

We’re looking for bloggers!Have a blog idea? Submit a post to:

blogs@einstein.yu.edu

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For More Information:

Connect with us @

einstein.yu.edu/administration/communications-public-affairs/media/twitter-resources.aspeinstein.yu.edu/newseinstein.yu.edu/social-media

June 21, 2012

Twitter and Medical Education:Information and Inspiration

Paul Moniz, Managing Director, Communications and MarketingDavid Flores, Social Media Manager

Science at the heart of medicine