"All Americans are just one bad tweet away from being fired"

From MarketWatch:

"If you use Twitter, you too are a public figure. And one egregious tweet could blow up your life.

The political climate puts all employers on high alert when it comes to the words and behavior of their employees.

Many people are plugged into the news cycle all day long. One in five employers think staff is productive fewer than five hours a day, with most citing smartphone use as the culprit.

The First Amendment protects free speech, but it may not protect your job if you do or say anything that is contrary to the company’s values, even if it’s a joke.

Anyone with a public Twitter account is a de facto public figure.

“We have to be mindful of every word we speak and everything we write.” Even posting photographs or retweeting someone else’s tweet can be enough to get fired.

In fairness to American workers, it’s a double-edged sword: They’re often times encouraged to tweet and maintain an active social media presence."

References:

Like Roseanne, all Americans are just one bad tweet away from being fired https://buff.ly/2xB5bAm

Your choice of social media service/website/app may reveal your personality

This study from Germany included 633 students.

Use of computer games was found to be negatively related to all personality and mental health variables: self-esteem, extraversion, narcissism, life satisfaction, social support and resilience.

The use of platforms that focus more on written interaction (Twitter, Tumblr) was linked to depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.

In contrast, Instagram use, which focuses more on photo-sharing, was linked to positive mental health variables.

References:

What does media use reveal about personality and mental health? An exploratory investigation among German students http://bit.ly/2nxE7ef

Adolescents' circadian clock and the vicious circle of media use, exposure to light at night, sleep loss and risk behaviors

Sleep is a key element in adolescent development. However, teens are spending increasing amounts of time online with health risks related to excessive use of electronic media (computers, smartphones, tablets, consoles, etc.). This excessive use is negatively associated with daytime functioning and sleep outcomes.

Adolescent sleep becomes irregular, shortened and delayed in relation with later sleep onset and early waking time due to early school starting times on weekdays which results in rhythm desynchronization and sleep loss.

In addition, exposure of adolescents to the numerous electronic devices prior to bedtime has become a great concern because LEDs emit much more blue light than white incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs and have therefore a greater impact on the biological clock.

A large number of adolescents move to evening chronotype and experience a misalignment between biological and social rhythms which, added to sleep loss, results in:

- fatigue
- daytime sleepiness
- behavioral problems (problematic media use, alcohol consumption, binge drinking, smoking habits, stimulant use)
- poor academic achievement

The permanent social jet lag resulting in clock misalignment experienced by a number of adolescents should be considered as a matter of public health.

References:

Disruption of adolescents' circadian clock: The vicious circle of media use, exposure to light at night, sleep loss and risk behaviors. - PubMed - NCBI http://bit.ly/2EpYT6J

The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use: less than 1 hour per day plus exercise and real-life interaction

In a recent study, playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting were all associated with less happiness.

“The advent of the smartphone is the most plausible explanation for the sudden decrease in teens’ psychological well-being.”

The happiest teenagers were those who used digital media a little less than an hour a day.

The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use.

Here is the 2-step solution:

1. Aim to spend no more than one hour a day on digital media
2. Increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising – two activities reliably linked to greater happiness

Prof Jean Twenge has made a whole career of this topic (http://www.psychology.sdsu.edu/people/jean-twenge). Here is a recent interview: Are smartphones making a generation unhappy?



References:

Teenage screen addicts lose out on happiness, study shows http://bit.ly/2rt9TNR

Smartphone and Social Media Use in Lectures Makes Your Learn Less

Several studies have shown that problematic smartphone use (PSU) is related to detrimental outcomes, such as:

- worse psychological well-being
- higher cognitive distraction
- poorer academic outcomes

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is strongly related to social media use.

The study participants were 415 Estonian university students aged 19-46 years (79% females).

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) and the frequency of social media use in lectures were negatively correlated with a deep approach to learning (defined as learning for understanding) and positively correlated with a surface approach to learning (defined as superficial learning).

Mediation analysis showed that social media use in lectures completely mediates the relationship between PSU and approaches to learning. These results indicate that the frequency of social media use in lectures might explain the relationships between poorer academic outcomes and PSU.

References:

Problematic Smartphone Use, Deep and Surface Approaches to Learning, and Social Media Use in Lectures. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Jan 8;15(1). pii: E92. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15010092.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29316697?dopt=Abstract

Extroverts and neurotics tend to use Facebook and WhatsApp more

From a recent study:

20% of smartphone behavior can be accounted for by WhatsApp usage, and females use it 13 minutes longer than males.

Extroversion is of high importance in understanding WhatsApp usage, extroverts use it longer vs introverts.

High neurotics tend to use Facebook more as it facilitates communication without face-to-face interaction.

On the other hand, conscientiousness is inversely correlated with WhatsApp usage. Conscientious humans handle their digital consumption better and are less prone to Internet addiction.

Are you conscientious? Conscientious humans can be described as punctual, and diligently follow their daily routines.



Status updates. Image source: WeBlogCartoons, Creative Commons license.

In related research, there was no good news for science uses of social media:

I Like, I Cite? Do Facebook Likes Predict the Impact of Scientific Work? http://buff.ly/1LPj4Io - Not really.

Impact of Social Media on Dissemination and Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines: Zero http://buff.ly/1LPj5fH

References:

Smartphone usage in the 21st century: who is active on WhatsApp? Christian Montag et al. BMC Res Notes. 2015; 8: 331.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4522968/

"Half-baked research": MD degree does not teach doctors how to tweet scientific meetings

MD degree does not teach doctors how to tweet scientific meetings, reported Reuters (http://buff.ly/1xAOPkO): A study assessed the accuracy of tweets posted by physicians at a medical conference and concluded "it is very easy to misunderstand tone and brevity, so there are dangers here."

First the study authors asked speakers at the meeting to identify key messages for their presentations. Then, they asked the speakers to review tweets posted during their talks to see how accurately these points were communicated.


Duty calls. Image source: Xkcd.com, Creative Commons license.

14 speakers participated in the experiment, and 13 had at least one tweet posted about their presentations. There were only 37 tweets altogether! Editor's note: This seems incredibly low. Allergy/Immunology conferences such as AAAAI and ACAAI generate thousands of tweets, sometimes more than 30-50 for each talk.

The speakers found 16 of the tweets accurately reflected their findings, while an additional 16 posts were partially accurate. In 3 instances, the tweets misrepresented key points. In 2 cases, the speakers were uncertain about the accuracy.

It's possible that the inaccurate tweets indicate that the speakers didn't do a good job of explaining their research. And it's also possible that the doctors listening to presentations didn't use the best language to tweet results.

To be sure, the sample size was quite small. This is the biggest limitation of the study and it qualifies it as what we sometimes call "half-baked research."

This statement also looked inaccurate in the Reuters report: "Asked about the impact of social media on medical education, 82 percent of survey participants said they didn't access websites for medical journals, research articles or major gastroenterology professional organizations." And indeed, it was inaccurate: 82% of GI's didn’t access social media sites of professional organizations, not their main websites.

We all agree on this though: Many physicians prefer to limit use of social media to their personal lives.

Here is an example how to use Twitter when attending a scientific conference:
http://allergynotes.blogspot.com/search/label/Twitter

Here is an approach I suggested a few years ago:

Cycle of Patient Education (click here to enlarge the image):



Cycle of Online Information and Physician Education (click here to enlarge the image):





"And it’s free."



References:

MD degree may not teach doctors how to tweet | Reuters http://buff.ly/1xAOPkO
Are you a SCEPTIC? SoCial mEdia Precision & uTility In Conferences - Emergency Medicine Journal http://buff.ly/1vQCq6j, and bit.ly/1tii1pz Digestive and Liver Disease

Comments from Twitter:

re: SCEPTIC? SoCial mEdia Precision & uTility In Conferences -- Skeptical Scalpel @Skepticscalpel: I've seen some forced acronyms in my time, but that one wins the prize.

@DrVes re: acronym, agree. the whole research endeavor left more to be desired...

Skeptical Scalpel @Skepticscalpel: I liked it because it supported my bias, but really--37 tweets?

Michael Katz @MGKatz036: Pls remember this as I tweet from @Boston_AF! MT @DrVes: MD does not teach doctors how to tweet scientific meetings buff.ly/1xzpiXF

Personality predictors of Facebook use: Conscientiousness leads to sparing use vs. Neuroticism to high frequency

This study investigates the role of personality factors as predictors of Facebook usage. Data concerning Facebook usage and personality factors from 654 Facebook users were gathered using a web survey.

Here are the results:

- Openness was a predictor of Facebook early adoption
- Conscientiousness with sparing use
- Extraversion with long sessions and abundant friendships
- Neuroticism with high frequency of sessions
- Agreeableness was possibly associated with low session frequency and friendships

Related CNN video: Does Facebook toy with your emotions? Psychologists discuss the controversial Facebook research that altered the content of users' newsfeeds. People who use it are the product that Facebook sells the advertisers. Advertisers are the customers. Facebook users are not the customers, they are the product.



References:

Personality variables as predictors of Facebook usage. Caci B, Cardaci M, Tabacchi ME, Scrima F. Psychol Rep. 2014 Apr;114(2):528-39.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24897905

Who blogs? Personality predictors of blogging http://buff.ly/1xFXjmY

Blogs are not going away - they will evolve, but not much, because it's a pretty simple idea

From Dave Winer: "I don't think blogs are going away, but I think the form will evolve, but maybe not very much, because it's a pretty simple idea — a person telling his or her story. In that sense it's not even very new. What is new, is the power for the individual to do it, for almost no money, and reach basically every person on the planet."

Why Mayo Clinic is a power user of social media: "Our patients are doing it, so this is where we need to be":



Last year, my good Twitter friend, and probably the most famous orthopedic surgeon using social media, @hjluks recently wrote: "Think it's time to put the blogging down...."

Is it time? Does blogging still have some place in the busy day of a practicing physician?

It really depends on what you use the blogging for. Here are just three examples:

- My blogs are my personal archive. I often post brief summaries of interesting articles with my personal comments. When I need to retrieve those during discussions with residents, students or patients, finding them is just a click away by using the custom search engine of the blog. Depending on the purpose of your blogs, the readership size and engagement often do not matter that much. For example, I have blogs that almost no one reads (my gardening blog) but I still post there and find them useful.

- Sometimes you need to point your Twitter/Facebook followers to a longer form explanation on a topic or a controversial issue. Blogs work well for that. A cardiologist was misunderstood by an e-patient recently. It took a 1,000-word blog post for him to explain what he really meant.

- You can create a practice website using blogging software. For example, FAQs for a physician practice can be hosted on a blog. Facebook and Twitter are disorganized and not easily searchable, and not everyone has the patience to watch videos to find (or miss) the answer to their question at the end.

Reasons to stop blogging

I know medical bloggers who stopped blogging or closed their Twitter accounts for similar reasons to those summarized below:

"He says in his final blog post that while he intended the personal blog to be a place where he could talk about ideas, his posts had started to “spark whole conversations that I never intended to start in the first place, conversations that leech precious time and energy while contributing precious little back.”

More related thoughts (the URL is inactive as of 04-28-2014):

"So many things can go wrong (with social media) if you don’t do it right. You can get stampeded and lose the game. Playing on the sidelines is more appealing.

If you run a hospital and decide to establish a vast living presence on the Web, people will say bad things about your doctors, your nurses, your waiting times in the ER, your food. You’ll have to deal with HIPAA. There’s also a chance that you’ll say something you’ll regret. Playing on the sidelines is more appealing."

On the other hand, consider this:


Duty calls. Image source: Xkcd.com, Creative Commons license.

Doctors are highly-qualified experts who limit their impact only to patients they see - if they don't publish, give lectures - and blog. In most cases, benefits far outweigh the risk and doctors should be encouraged to at least give it a try.

I tried to describe a practical and time-efficient approach here:

Social media in medicine: How to be a Twitter superstar and help your patients and your practice
http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/social-media-in-medicine-how-to-be.html

Blogging also keeps you grounded and humble. Critical comments prompt you to back your clinical opinion, expressed in a blog post, with solid scientific references and that's a good thing.

This is a suggested Cycle of Patient Education (click here to enlarge the image):



A here is the suggested Cycle of Online Information and Physician Education (click here to enlarge the image):



The two cycles work together as two interlocking cogwheels. Here is how to facilitate the Rise of the ePhysican who works hand in hand with the ePatient:



Why you should start blogging

Quotes from an interview with Seth Godin and Tom Peters:

"Blogging is free. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads it. What matters is the humility that comes from writing it. What matters is the metacognition of thinking about what you’re going to say.

No single thing in the last 15 years professionally has been more important to my life than blogging. It has changed my life, it has changed my perspective, it has changed my intellectual outlook, it’s changed my emotional outlook.

And it’s free."



Don't limit yourself to your blog - use Facebook and Twitter

Blogging can be great for personal growth but there is a lot more interaction on Twitter and Facebook nowadays as compared to blogs. If you have a blog, you must also have a Facebook "like" page (previously called "fan" page) and a Twitter account. These serve the dual purpose of distribution and commenting channels ("two-way street").

For example, Facebook pages get a lot more interaction than blogs for some medical journals - you can count the comments on the NEJM Facebook updates (the range is 9-180) vs. their blog (0). The blog has comments enabled, of course.

Facebook is the clear "winner" in terms of commenting activity, it is not even close:

NEJM Facebook page vs. NEJM blog (last checked in 2013)

What is the oldest medical blog?

I have maintained medical blogs since 2004 but never thought about blog anniversaries - blogging seems such a mundane task of daily life.

What is the "life expectancy" of a medical blog?

The studies are ongoing but the current record is around 8-10 years... http://goo.gl/5LRx

In the medical blogging world, the physician bloggers who produce high volume of original content often quit after 1-2 years. There is too much to handle. Medical blogging is a difficult task that requires a lot of time and mental energy (scientific accuracy, HIPAA compliance, ethics, etc.), and the financial rewards are nonexistent or negligible.

As pointed out in the comments, the "oldest" medical blog probably is Family Medicine Notes, followed by GruntDoc.

References:

Why Dave Winer Invented the Blog http://buff.ly/1iD1b27

Related reading and a lot of comments:

What is the oldest medical blog? http://bit.ly/1aSL3VY
Why you should start blogging in 2011 http://bit.ly/1aSKGdO
Doctors are natural communicators - social media is extension of what they do every day http://bit.ly/U2wB7O
6 Reasons Why Doctors Blog http://bit.ly/1aSL8c7
Who blogs? Personality predictors of blogging http://bit.ly/1aSLb7M

Altmetric tracks the buzz around scholarly articles: You can make a difference

Altmetric tracks the buzz around scholarly articles - see an example: http://bit.ly/1lF9KtR

You can make a difference.

See how my blog contributed to one of highest ever scores in this journal for this article (ranked #7 of 972): Children with severe asthma have 32 times higher risk for developing COPD http://buff.ly/1oIJ3FH

Here is the blog post: Allergy Notes: What are the top 3 asthma articles for March 2014? Vote here http://bit.ly/1hjZ6Ju

The article will be included in the next edition of What Is New In Small Airways Research
http://www.worldallergy.org/small_airways_group/reviews/

The beautiful flower of Internet Conversation has lost quite a few petals since 2008 but it still works:



Don't close blog comments on your site. See how one comment changed influenza treatment: http://buff.ly/1hDJ2MN and http://buff.ly/1i5b3le

From the Guardian:

"But then a Japanese paediatrician called Keiji Hayashi left a comment that would trigger a revolution in our understanding of how evidence-based medicine should work. This wasn't in a publication, or even a letter: it was a simple online comment, posted informally underneath the Tamiflu review on the Cochrane website, almost like a blog comment.

Cochrane had summarised the data from all the trials, explained Hayashi, but its positive conclusion was driven by data from just one of the papers it cited: an industry-funded summary of 10 previous trials, led by an author called Kaiser. From these 10 trials, only two had ever been published in the scientific literature. For the remaining eight, the only available information on the methods used came from the brief summary in this secondary source, created by industry. That's not reliable enough.

This is science at its best. The Cochrane review is readily accessible online; it explains transparently the methods by which it looked for trials, and then analysed them, so any informed reader can pull the review apart, and understand where the conclusions came from. Cochrane provides an easy way for readers to raise criticisms. And, crucially, these criticisms did not fall on deaf ears. Dr Tom Jefferson is the head of the Cochrane respiratory group, and the lead author on the 2008 review. He realised immediately that he had made a mistake in blindly trusting the Kaiser data. He said so, without defensiveness, and then set about getting the information needed."

References:

CasesBlog - Medical and Health Blog: The beautiful flower of Internet conversation: how many petals do you have? http://bit.ly/1ekAt9D

Facebook 'likes' serve as personality test

CNN video: Study: Facebook 'likes' serve as personality test (watch below).

The research done by a team at Cambridge University was published in PNAS a year ago. There are new tools now that can help guard your privacy (see the end of this post), hence the reason for linking to this.

Surprisingly accurate estimates of Facebook users’ race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views can be inferred from automated analysis of Facebook Likes - information currently publicly available by default.

Statistical models proved 85% accurate differentiating Republican from Democrat. Good prediction accuracy was achieved for relationship status and substance abuse – between 65 and 73%. But few users clicked Likes explicitly revealing these attributes. Accurate predictions relied on ‘inference’ - aggregating huge amounts of less informative but more popular Likes such as music and TV shows to produce incisive personal profiles.

Even seemingly opaque personal details such as whether users’ parents separated before the user reached the age of 21 were accurate to 60%, enough to make the information “worthwhile for advertisers”, suggest the researchers.



One of the study authors added: “I have used Facebook since 2005, and I will continue to do so. But I might be more careful to use the privacy settings that Facebook provides.”

Here is what you can do now.

The recommendation is based on a recent WSJ article: People Battle to Regain Online Privacy: 86% have taken steps to mask their digital footprints http://buff.ly/1lxbUxR.

One of the apps, AVG PrivacyFix, is a free download for Chrome and works well. Give it a try: http://www.avg.com/us-en/privacyfix

References:

Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior. PNAS, 2013.

Digital records could expose intimate details and personality traits of millions | University of Cambridge http://buff.ly/1hRVdGP

Facebook 'likes' can reveal your secrets, study finds http://buff.ly/1dGK0NI

Healthcare social media #HCSM - top articles

Here are my suggestions for some of the top articles related to healthcare social media (#HCSM) in the past 2-4 weeks:

"Is Google accidentally killing Wikipedia?" with "Knowledge Graph" snippets http://buff.ly/1hiuwNx - page views fell by 12% in 2013.

Patient with cancer tweets about her diease - Guardian and NYTimes columnists misinterpret her tweets - outcome: http://buff.ly/1hvnOnt

Bloggers have the same First Amendment rights as professional journalists (US federal court decision) http://buff.ly/1eSCJHW

Social Media Workshop for Emergency Medicine Physicians http://buff.ly/1f5hByf - Great basic info for a quick start.

The majority of Canadian physicians are avoiding social media: "too many pitfalls and too few benefits". 90% of Canadian doctors believe the use of social media tools in medicine poses professional and legal risks. 40% think social media are of little or no use in day-to-day medical practice http://buff.ly/1cX96AE

"Facebook like a spreading disease that's about to fade away" (study) http://buff.ly/1f7STxt

Expand your CME and broaden your academic community with Twitter, urges members Royal College of Physicians of Canada http://buff.ly/1f9RVka

Study: AA parents are active users of mobile tech for social interactions, but less so for accessing health info http://buff.ly/Ml7FXo

Social media use by orthodontic patients: only 13% posted comments about braces, only 6.7% would like to get orthodontic info from social media sites http://buff.ly/Ml8kIC

Milk sharing networks on Facebook; thousands of individuals participate in direct exchange of raw human milk http://buff.ly/NccWku

Smartphone Apps for Diabetes: Do They Really Work? http://buff.ly/1c96qQU - probably not, at least not when studied in trial that extend beyond 3 months.

Social media's role in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery: informing clinicians, empowering patients http://buff.ly/NceJWO

Physicians need to be aware of what information patients can find online because many are unwilling to share it http://buff.ly/1c96U9O

Social Media Engagement by Public Health Researchers: only 24% said SM was helpful for career advancement http://buff.ly/1ggxnX0

The 1% Rule in Digital Health Social Networks: Superusers generate the vast majority of traffic and create value http://buff.ly/1ggw7TQ

The articles were selected from Twitter @DrVes and and RSS subscriptions. Please feel free to send suggestions for articles to clinicalcases at gmail.com and you will receive an acknowledgement in the next edition of this publication.

How to Effectively Participate in a Twitter Chat - Mayo Clinic video

When it comes to social media outreach, Twitter chats are one of the best ways to reach a large audience -- and unlike traditional media, you can interact with a large number of people interested in a topic, including followers and non-followers instantly.

Only problem? Unless you've participated in a few Twitter chats, they can be tricky to follow and confusing at first.

Even worse, if you're in a poorly moderated chat -- the conversation can get stale quickly. Mayo Clinic's social media team has been participating in, and hosting quite a few health care Twitter chats. Although this video applies to health related topics, these tips on how to participate, moderate and effectively communicate during a Twitter chat should be helpful to all.

People Treat Computers and New Media as Real People and Places

A few excerpts from the articles linked below:

Study: multitaskers are terrible at every aspect of multitasking. Multitasking may be creating people who are unable to think well and clearly.

People relate to technological devices socially (as if they are people), and those interactions affect others. Technology and people: Do we have to bring back the saying ‘Look at me when I talk to you’?

Japanese nurse robot - ACTROID-F (video):



References:

Clifford Nass, Who Warned of a Data Deluge, Dies at 55 - NYTimes.com http://nyti.ms/16VGF7m

College admission officers: They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets. 30% college admissions officers said discovered information online that negatively affected an applicant’s prospects http://buff.ly/1dYeTt4

Physician: "I think it's time to put the blogging down"

My good Twitter friend, and probably the most famous orthopedic surgeon using social media, @hjluks recently wrote: "Think it's time to put the blogging down...."

Is it time? Does blogging still have some place in the busy day of a practicing physician?

It really depends on what you use the blogging for. Here are just three examples:

- My blogs are my personal archive. I often post brief summaries of interesting articles with my personal comments. When I need to retrieve those during discussions with residents, students or patients, finding them is just a click away by using the custom search engine of the blog. Depending on the purpose of your blogs, the readership size and engagement often do not matter that much. For example, I have blogs that almost no one reads (my gardening blog) but I still post there and find them useful.

- Sometimes you need to point your Twitter/Facebook followers to a longer form explanation on a topic or a controversial issue. Blogs work well for that. A cardiologist was misunderstood by an e-patient recently. It took a 1,000-word blog post for him to explain what he really meant.

- You can create a practice website using blogging software. For example, FAQs for a physician practice can be hosted on a blog. Facebook and Twitter are disorganized and not easily searchable, and not everyone has the patience to watch videos to find (or miss) the answer to their question at the end.

Reasons to stop blogging

I know medical bloggers who stopped blogging or closed their Twitter accounts for similar reasons to those summarized below:

"He says in his final blog post that while he intended the personal blog to be a place where he could talk about ideas, his posts had started to “spark whole conversations that I never intended to start in the first place, conversations that leech precious time and energy while contributing precious little back.”

More related thoughts:

"So many things can go wrong (with social media) if you don’t do it right. You can get stampeded and lose the game. Playing on the sidelines is more appealing.

If you run a hospital and decide to establish a vast living presence on the Web, people will say bad things about your doctors, your nurses, your waiting times in the ER, your food. You’ll have to deal with HIPAA. There’s also a chance that you’ll say something you’ll regret. Playing on the sidelines is more appealing."

On the other hand, consider this:


Duty calls. Image source: Xkcd.com, Creative Commons license.

See a perfect example why you must read medical blogs in this post by a practicing electrophysiologist: The first 4 months of a new era - anticoagulation with dabigatran. You can't find this first-hand real-life experience in any textbook or medical journal.

6 Reasons Why Doctors Blog

Here are the 6 Reasons Why Doctors Blog, according to Dr. John M., a cardiologist and electrophysiologist:

Here are the top six reasons why I and other doctors choose to author medical blogs:

1. The Practice of Medicine inspires
2. To educate
3. To better mankind
4. To give a look behind the curtain
5. To archive useful information
6. To display our humanness

My comment is here:

Thank you for the wonderful post and sharing insights, John.

Blogging "To better mankind" is beyond reach for me, I think. However, I hope that my blogs helped "To educate" at least some of the readers who flipped through more than 8 million pages since 2005...

Doctors are highly-qualified experts who limit their impact only to patients they see - if they don't publish, give lectures - and blog. In most cases, benefits far outweigh the risk and doctors should be encouraged to at least give it a try.

I tried to describe a practical and time-efficient approach here:

Social media in medicine: How to be a Twitter superstar and help your patients and your practice
http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/social-media-in-medicine-how-to-be.html

Blogging also keeps you grounded and humble. Critical comments prompt you to back your clinical opinion, expressed in a blog post, with solid scientific references and that's a good thing.

This is a suggested Cycle of Patient Education (click here to enlarge the image):



A here is the suggested Cycle of Online Information and Physician Education (click here to enlarge the image):



The two cycles work together as two interlocking cogwheels. Here is how to facilitate the Rise of the ePhysican who works hand in hand with the ePatient:



Why you should start blogging

Quotes from an interview with Seth Godin and Tom Peters:

"Blogging is free. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads it. What matters is the humility that comes from writing it. What matters is the metacognition of thinking about what you’re going to say.

No single thing in the last 15 years professionally has been more important to my life than blogging. It has changed my life, it has changed my perspective, it has changed my intellectual outlook, it’s changed my emotional outlook.

And it’s free."



Don't limit yourself to your blog - use Facebook and Twitter

Blogging can be great for personal growth but there is a lot more interaction on Twitter and Facebook nowadays as compared to blogs. If you have a blog, you must also have a Facebook "like" page (previously called "fan" page) and a Twitter account. These serve the dual purpose of distribution and commenting channels ("two-way street").

For example, Facebook pages get a lot more interaction than blogs for some medical journals - you can count the comments on the NEJM Facebook updates (the range is 9-180) vs. their blog (0). The blog has comments enabled, of course.

Facebook is the clear "winner" in terms of commenting activity, it is not even close:

NEJM Facebook page vs. NEJM blog

What is the oldest medical blog?

I have maintained medical blogs since 2004 but never thought about blog anniversaries - blogging seems such a mundane task of daily life.

What is the "life expectancy" of a medical blog?

The studies are ongoing but the current record is around 8-10 years... http://goo.gl/5LRx

In the medical blogging world, the physician bloggers who produce high volume of original content often quit after 1-2 years. There is too much to handle. Medical blogging is a difficult task that requires a lot of time and mental energy (scientific accuracy, HIPAA compliance, ethics, etc.), and the financial rewards are nonexistent or negligible.

As pointed out in the comments, the "oldest" medical blog probably is Family Medicine Notes, followed by GruntDoc.

Related reading and a lot of comments:

What is the oldest medical blog? http://bit.ly/1aSL3VY
Why you should start blogging in 2011 http://bit.ly/1aSKGdO
Doctors are natural communicators - social media is extension of what they do every day http://bit.ly/U2wB7O
6 Reasons Why Doctors Blog http://bit.ly/1aSL8c7
Who blogs? Personality predictors of blogging http://bit.ly/1aSLb7M

What Will Social Media Look Like in 2020? (WSJ video)

The end of social networking? "Social, Inc." author Bob Zukis discusses his predictions on what the future holds for social media.

Lessons from 12 Years of Blogging (from woodtang)

Spoken like a true blogger:

"I started this site 12 years ago. That’s longer than my marriage, longer than any job I’ve held, longer than I’ve lived anywhere since I was a kid. Even though I stopped a started blogging here too many times to count, that’s a long time. I feel like that counts for something on the web and I ought to give it some love.

My interest in blogging waned when I started using Twitter, but I’ve always felt something missing when I wanted to write a few paragraphs about something and be done with it."

Read the rest at woodtang.com http://bit.ly/VPuEaP

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary”, said Pablo Picasso. Blogging is similar in a way but it also helps to collect important ideas, archive news items and create an educational portfolio that is easily shareable with students, colleagues and patients.

In my personal experience, blogging fits nicely in what I call the Cycle of Online Information and Physician Education (click here to enlarge the image).





Comments from Twitter:

Heidi Allen @dreamingspires: Lessons from 12 Years of Blogging (from woodtang) casesblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/lesson… impressive - and makes it sound simple

The #FOAMed revolution (Free Open Access Medical education)

From Mike Cadogan:

"The net effect of #FOAM has taken me quite by surprise (editor's note: #FOAMed is Free Open Access Medical education). Despite a complete lack of evidence, peer review, mission statements OR Big Pharma backing – the FOAMed revolution continues to infiltrate the psyche of the everyday healthcare professional. The ability to intelligently review, discuss and develop hypotheses, guidelines and issues; the sense of community; the sense of rebellious augmented learning and the joy of independence is rife…and contagious.

There are now an amazing 180 emergency medicine and critical care blogs. Bloggers write from 21 different countries. GMEP – ‘the Facebook of Medicine’ has just welcomed it’s 800th new member, 2 weeks after launch." http://buff.ly/12lzWzs

Here is my comment: Congratulations, Mike! These are amazing stats that illustrate an inspiring success! "Facebook of medicine", indeed. Let's keep it growing.

Social media: how can doctors contribute?

"Social media: how doctors can contribute" is a brief but valuable opinion piece in The Lancet, one of the "big five" journals in the medical publishing world. I have suggested some practical examples before (http://goo.gl/eG7M1) and my comments are in the text below.

Most social media guides for doctors emphasize the need to:

- maintain patient confidentiality
- provide accurate information
- treat colleagues with respect
- avoid anonymity online if writing in a professional capacity
- be aware of how content is shared
- review privacy settings and online presence
- declare conflicts of interest
- maintain separate personal and professional profiles

Here are some quotes from The Lancet article:

"Accepting Facebook friend requests from patients is, in general, not advised. But what of situations where doctors and patients are genuine friends? (then it's OK in many cases).

What, too, of the benefits of doctors providing medical information via blogs, Twitter, or Facebook? Current guidance focuses more on the risks than the benefits of doctors' use of social media."

Providing only negative examples of social media use by doctors is like teaching medical students only with "Morbidity and Mortality" conferences. Providing examples of positive outcomes and best practices is essential.

Patients use social networks to research their symptoms, their doctors, their treatments, and to set up support and information groups.

Doctors can use social media to drive awareness, to provide accurate information, and as a portal to communicate with other physicians.

"Much is said about the dangers of social media. Care about posting in a public space is, of course, needed. Doctors, though, should seize the opportunities provided by social networks to improve the health of their patients, and do their utmost to ensure that the highest quality of health information and access to treatment is there for all."

Finally, some common sense thinking about social media use by doctors has made it into a top 5 medical journal.

Cycle of Patient Education (click here to enlarge the image). An editable copy for your presentation is available at Google Drive:



Cycle of Online Information and Physician Education (click here to enlarge the image). An editable copy for your presentation is available at Google Drive:



The two cycles work together as two interlocking cogwheels (TIC). Here is how to facilitate the Rise of the ePhysican who works hand in hand with the ePatient:



Products of the Cycle of Patient Education: EQUALS

- Energy!
- Quality of life is improved
- Understanding of patient condition is improved
- "Affinity" - better physician-patient relationship leads to increased referrals to the practice, e.g. 2-5 new patients per week per physician, increased revenue
- Lower rate of ER visits, hospital admissions, phone calls
- Savings for patient and health system

References:

Social media: how doctors can contribute. The Lancet, Volume 379, Issue 9826, Page 1562, 28 April 2012.
Social media in medicine: How to be a Twitter rockstar and help your patients and your practice 

Related reading:

Howard Luks MD @hjluks: Many MDs and hospitalis are rushing into a So Me with a lack of proper offline preparation, and the lack of understanding buff.ly/LS5WHt

Comments from Twitter:

@mHIMSS: Nice breakdown! [GRAPHIC] How can #physicians contribute to #patient experience w/ #socialmedia? ow.ly/eQW0L via @DrVes

Laika (Jacqueline) @laikas: Social media: how can doctors contribute? j.mp/PD06fe #socialmedia by @DrVes (with nice Patient Education Cycles) HT @DrShock

How to make your own infographics with templates by Google

Here are 3 infographic templates for Google Drive by Google:

Infographics Toolbox By Google - Illustrate your data with your own custom graphs, charts, maps and more. Draw your own pie charts and bar charts with this template. Edit the colors of the map of the United States. Create an infographic of male and female symbols to use for counting data (including one-half male and female symbols). http://goo.gl/R0Cjh



United States Data Map By Google - This map of the United States is shaded based on state-by-state data. Just click on each state and set a custom color based on the information that you want to display. Then adjust the key at the bottom of the drawing to describe your custom data. The default data displayed is the population density from the year 2000 census. Notes: - States with multiple unconnected parts have been created as grouped shapes (eg. Hawaii, Michigan). - Washington DC starts as a grouped shape with Maryland. - Map can be changed to be displayed at any size. Using the same border for all states (eg. 1px white) is recommended. http://goo.gl/KjM3H

Map of the United States (Multi-colored) By Google - This map of the United States is colored with 5 standard colors to distinguish each state outline. Each set of same-colored states is a grouped shape, just click a state and change the color to choose custom map colors for all those states. A gray shadow of the states outlines adds a lightweight 3D effect. http://goo.gl/p58VS

Related reading:

How to Get Started With Infographics | PCWorld Business Center http://goo.gl/ViWk2

How To Create Your Own Infographics: Step By Step Guide and Tips - TechTheBest.com  http://goo.gl/pT2mH