Social Media Utilization Trends in Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Digital Health Communication

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes in orthopaedic residency education and recruitment.
• Increased reliance on virtual programming led to greater social media utilization by residency programs.
• Residency programs are using social media to communicate with prospective applicants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the growth in social media platform usage by orthopaedic surgery residency programs.
• To quantify the increase in social media adoption since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Main Methods:

• Instagram and Twitter accounts for 187 orthopaedic surgery residency programs were identified.
• Account creation dates were categorized as pre- or post-March 1, 2020.
• Monthly post frequency was analyzed for accounts active before March 1, 2020.

Main Results:

• 41.6% of programs had an Instagram profile, with a 155% increase in new accounts post-March 2020.
• 26.7% of programs had a Twitter profile, with a 43% increase in new accounts post-March 2020.
• Existing Instagram accounts showed a 96% average monthly increase in posts after March 2020.

Conclusions:

• Over one-third of orthopaedic residency programs now use social media for recruitment.
• Significant increases in Instagram (155%) and Twitter (43%) usage by programs since March 2020.
• Social media offers a cost-effective alternative for applicant engagement amid limited in-person interactions.