Impact of Social Media on an Emergency Medicine Conference
EPs have shown a keen interest in incorporating new media, such as blogs, podcasts and Twitter into both their clinical practice and for educational purposes. A recent study found 672 self-identified EPs on Twitter and since initial publication this number has now risen to over 750. The EM and critical care website lifeinthefastlane.com maintains a directory of EM blogs and podcasts. It has documented a rise in the number of EM blogs and podcasts from 67 to 132 over an 18-month period. At least one EM training programme is now incorporating such online educational activity into their residency programme in a process sometimes referred to as 'asynchronous learning'.
There is currently no published data to compare new media use by EM as a specialty compared with other medical specialties, but several published studies have looked at the use of Twitter at medical conferences.
Deasi et al examined Twitter activity at a nephrology conference in 2011 with 10 000 participants. They considered over a third of the 1000 tweets produced at the conference to be advertisements, whereas our study only found 1.7% of tweets were advertising-related despite the significant number of vendors being present at ICEM 2012. Nomura et al reported on activity at the recent American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) 2010 Scientific Assembly and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) 2011 conference, and found that there were 846 and 766 tweets produced respectively. This was significantly lower than that produced at ICEM 2012 despite nearly 6000 attendees at the ACEP conference and 2300 at SAEM. They found a similar number of original tweets (50.5% and 67.1%, respectively) and session related tweets (78.7 and 85.2%, respectively).
With regard to the specific context of ICEM 2012, we have shown that multiple people were engaged in talking about ICEM 2012 on Twitter and that the vast majority of tweets and conversations were regarding the clinical and research activity taking place at the conference. Sixty-five per cent of those engaging online with the conference on Twitter were not at the conference, demonstrating that new media can extend the geographic reach of an international conference far beyond the bounds of the conference hall.
There were significantly more tweets produced at ICEM 2012 compared to the two studies mentioned above (ICEM 2012: 4692; Kidney Week 2011: 993; ACEP 2010: 846; SAEM 2011: 766). Symplur.com ranked ICEM 2012 as the 4th most tweeted medical conference on record and the most tweeted medical conference on a pro-rata basis.
The potential significance of Twitter as an educational tool was examined in a recent review of 21 studies. Of the 21 studies reviewed, all found a positive response to the use of micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter. Multiple facets to the benefit were found, including student–instructor interaction, the asynchronous nature of learning and the importance of socialised adult learning.
Figure 3 is an illustration of the connections and conversations produced around the #ICEM2012 hashtag. This is constructed by Symplur.com using replies to tweets, and illustrates the connections formed between different users on a specific topic. The size of any particular point on the image demonstrates the number of connections and conversations focused around that user's tweets.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 3.
Network centrality analysis.
The use of Twitter to communicate and share educational ideas is only one facet of what has been collectively termed 'free open-access meducation' (FOAM). There are multiple websites, blogs, videos and podcasts all freely available in the public domain that provide the educational and information sharing role traditionally confined to textbooks, journals and conferences.
Various websites provide continuously open access 'webtexts' and there are multiple online 'journal club' style websites that discuss, respond and critique the peer-reviewed literature (something traditionally confined to the 'letters' section of most journals). Such activity has been recently recognised in the appointment of Michelle Lin as the first academy chair in emergency education which has direct links to her online educational activity on her website. It is important to note that the growth of FOAM has been largely independent of traditional publishing models. Furthermore, there has been criticism of traditional peer-reviewed journals for their hesitancy and reluctance to embrace the new media, though it should be noted that most major journals now have an active Twitter account, website and occasionally even podcasts.
Anecdotally, numerous physicians have raised concerns that the lack of traditional peer-review in free, open-access, online medical education may lead to incorrect or poor quality information being provided. While this is a reasonable concern there is currently little evidence either to refute or support the claim.
Discussion
EPs have shown a keen interest in incorporating new media, such as blogs, podcasts and Twitter into both their clinical practice and for educational purposes. A recent study found 672 self-identified EPs on Twitter and since initial publication this number has now risen to over 750. The EM and critical care website lifeinthefastlane.com maintains a directory of EM blogs and podcasts. It has documented a rise in the number of EM blogs and podcasts from 67 to 132 over an 18-month period. At least one EM training programme is now incorporating such online educational activity into their residency programme in a process sometimes referred to as 'asynchronous learning'.
There is currently no published data to compare new media use by EM as a specialty compared with other medical specialties, but several published studies have looked at the use of Twitter at medical conferences.
Deasi et al examined Twitter activity at a nephrology conference in 2011 with 10 000 participants. They considered over a third of the 1000 tweets produced at the conference to be advertisements, whereas our study only found 1.7% of tweets were advertising-related despite the significant number of vendors being present at ICEM 2012. Nomura et al reported on activity at the recent American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) 2010 Scientific Assembly and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) 2011 conference, and found that there were 846 and 766 tweets produced respectively. This was significantly lower than that produced at ICEM 2012 despite nearly 6000 attendees at the ACEP conference and 2300 at SAEM. They found a similar number of original tweets (50.5% and 67.1%, respectively) and session related tweets (78.7 and 85.2%, respectively).
With regard to the specific context of ICEM 2012, we have shown that multiple people were engaged in talking about ICEM 2012 on Twitter and that the vast majority of tweets and conversations were regarding the clinical and research activity taking place at the conference. Sixty-five per cent of those engaging online with the conference on Twitter were not at the conference, demonstrating that new media can extend the geographic reach of an international conference far beyond the bounds of the conference hall.
There were significantly more tweets produced at ICEM 2012 compared to the two studies mentioned above (ICEM 2012: 4692; Kidney Week 2011: 993; ACEP 2010: 846; SAEM 2011: 766). Symplur.com ranked ICEM 2012 as the 4th most tweeted medical conference on record and the most tweeted medical conference on a pro-rata basis.
The potential significance of Twitter as an educational tool was examined in a recent review of 21 studies. Of the 21 studies reviewed, all found a positive response to the use of micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter. Multiple facets to the benefit were found, including student–instructor interaction, the asynchronous nature of learning and the importance of socialised adult learning.
Figure 3 is an illustration of the connections and conversations produced around the #ICEM2012 hashtag. This is constructed by Symplur.com using replies to tweets, and illustrates the connections formed between different users on a specific topic. The size of any particular point on the image demonstrates the number of connections and conversations focused around that user's tweets.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 3.
Network centrality analysis.
The use of Twitter to communicate and share educational ideas is only one facet of what has been collectively termed 'free open-access meducation' (FOAM). There are multiple websites, blogs, videos and podcasts all freely available in the public domain that provide the educational and information sharing role traditionally confined to textbooks, journals and conferences.
Various websites provide continuously open access 'webtexts' and there are multiple online 'journal club' style websites that discuss, respond and critique the peer-reviewed literature (something traditionally confined to the 'letters' section of most journals). Such activity has been recently recognised in the appointment of Michelle Lin as the first academy chair in emergency education which has direct links to her online educational activity on her website. It is important to note that the growth of FOAM has been largely independent of traditional publishing models. Furthermore, there has been criticism of traditional peer-reviewed journals for their hesitancy and reluctance to embrace the new media, though it should be noted that most major journals now have an active Twitter account, website and occasionally even podcasts.
Anecdotally, numerous physicians have raised concerns that the lack of traditional peer-review in free, open-access, online medical education may lead to incorrect or poor quality information being provided. While this is a reasonable concern there is currently little evidence either to refute or support the claim.
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