The Scholarly Merit of Social Media Use Among Clinical Faculty

Background: Social media (SoMe) platforms such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook are increasingly becoming incorporated into education and scientific communities. In fields such as emergency medicine, clinicians have established communication channels through SoMe to engage in academic and clinical discussions for the purposes of professional growth. While the use of SoMe as an educational tool within the classroom has been previously described, its use as a professional tool has not been adequately investigated. Objective: To assess the perception of SoMe as an academic tool among deans of accredited health care professional schools in the United States. Methods: An electronic cross-sectional survey was distributed to deans of accredited medical, nursing, and pharmacy schools across the United States to assess the knowledge of SoMe, attitudes toward academic merit, and challenges to incorporating SoMe into scholarly activity. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Of 188 responses (response rate = 22%), 162 (86%) agreed publication in a peer-reviewed journal ranked highest in academic merit, followed by publishing in medical Web sites (157, 84%), publication in a university-based newsletter (147, 78%), and personal medical education blog (150, 80%). Fifty-one (31%) of respondents stated that volume of viewership would improve academic merit, while 85 (52%) believed a peer-review process would improve academic merit. Conclusion: Although professional SoMe activities should not replace traditional publications, the result of this study suggest establishing a peer-review process to improve validity of such activities.