The Relationship between Plastic Surgery Residency Instagram Characteristics and Doximity Rank

Social media provides unique insight into the facilities, personnel, and culture of plastic surgery residency programs. Applicants can gain a more holistic view of programs based on their social media accounts. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between the popularity of a program's Instagram account and the program's Doximity ranking and to investigate the factors which contribute to greater viewership, with a special focus on diversity.

Using Doximity's 2021-2022 Residency Navigator, a list of all integrated plastic surgery residency programs was obtained, and their social media accounts were documented. Instagram accounts were analyzed for metrics, post content, and website links. A 15-month period of posts was analyzed, then grouped into eight categories. Diversity was assessed using average Fitzpatrick skin type for each post containing photographs of people.

Of the 88 programs, 85 (96.6%) had an Instagram account at the time of analysis. Analysis of Instagram post content found that personnel and social function posts had significantly more likes than other categories. Posts with average Fitzpatrick type greater than or equal to III also had significantly more likes. Linear regression demonstrated a positive relationship between higher Doximity rank and number of followers; however, there was no clear relationship between rank and posts per week or engagement score.

Plastic surgery social media accounts may make a positive impact on followers. It is important to understand the factors that can increase engagement and broaden viewership. Tailoring posts based on content popularity and highlighting diversity may help to accomplish these goals.