Scroll, learn, repeat: The educational use of social media in radiology education - A scoping review

To map the available evidence on the educational use of social media in radiology education, across three domains: educational use and adoption; participant perceptions, preferences, and satisfaction; and knowledge or performance outcomes, and to identify methodological priorities for future evaluation.

A scoping review was conducted according to PRISMA-ScR principles. PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and EPOS were searched for English-language records published between 2015 and 2025. Eligible records addressed learner-oriented radiology education contexts and reported original quantitative participant-level data on educational use, perceptions, satisfaction, knowledge, retention, or performance. Two reviewers independently screened records and assessed full texts. Findings were synthesized narratively because of marked methodological heterogeneity.

The search identified 839 records. After 183 duplicates were removed, 656 records were screened; 38 reports were assessed in full text and 10 were included. The evidence comprised four survey or questionnaire studies, two educational initiatives with participant evaluation, and four small comparative or pre/post studies. Most findings concerned educational use, adoption, preferences, and perceived usefulness. Knowledge or performance outcomes were assessed in four heterogeneous studies, with findings ranging from no significant knowledge benefit or comparable retention to favorable results in small, context-specific settings. No platform-specific educational advantage was established.

The available literature is better suited to characterize how social media are being used in radiology education than to establish educational effectiveness. Participant-level evidence remains limited, predominantly self-reported, and context-specific, while knowledge and performance outcome evaluation is small-scale and heterogeneous.