Instagram Engagement Helps Increase Residency Applicant Interest in Orthopaedic Surgery

This study aims to evaluate whether Instagram engagement data affect residency application volumes for orthopaedic surgery residency programs and rank the top 50 Instagram accounts associated with programs based on engagement.

Data from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2023 were collected in August 2023 for Instagram metrics through Popsters social media analytic tool for business accounts and manually for nonbusiness accounts, as well as applicant numbers through the Association of American Medical College (AAMC) Residency Explorer Tool. Top 50 rankings were created from 2020 to 2022 based on engagement score, number of applicants, and growth in application numbers. Correlational analysis was done for programs with active Instagram accounts and full AAMC data from 2020 to 2022. A list of the top 50 most influential programs' Instagram accounts was compiled from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023, based on engagement scores including follower count.

Of 210 programs, 163 (78%) had a total of 184 Instagram accounts. The average number of likes and comments per post for each account increased from 60 to 98 and 1.4 to 2.3 from 2020 to June 2023 (r = 0.95 to 0.9). For the 153 programs with active accounts and corresponding AAMC applicant data from 2020 to 2022, an increase in average engagement score (2,938 to 3,483) and the number of applicants (636 to 824) were observed with a weak positive correlation (2020: r = 0.15, P = 0.06; 2021: r = 0.18, P = 0.02; 2022: r = 0.20, P = 0.01).

Instagram has become a useful tool that orthopaedic surgery residency programs are leveraging to highlight aspects of their programs to prospective applicants. The findings of this study demonstrate a positive correlation between social media engagement and applicant numbers from 2020 to 2022, with the strength of correlation increasing each subsequent year. Several influential orthopaedic surgery residency programs, based on high engagement scores, received the most applications in the previous three cycles, reinforcing the value of social media, particularly Instagram, in promoting residency programs.