Social Media in Medical Education

Cynthia Greenan, MLS, cynthia.greenan@mssm.eduJonathan M Flacker MD, AGSF, jflacke@emory.edu

By the end of this session the learner will be able to:• Define the concept of Social Media• Describe 3 examples of how Social Media may be

applicable to their education program

• Social media are internet-based applications that allow you to quickly and easily connect with, communicate with and collaborate with other people

• They usually employ functionality such as friending/following, sharing/retweeting/posting and liking/favoriting/+1ing

Image by Slava Baranskyi http://www.flickr.com/photos/woofer_kyyiv/3581392721/

• Examples: Google docs, Dropbox, Slideshare• Share files with other people and collaborate • Always have the latest version • Some let you work simultaneously “in the cloud”

(on the internet), while others require you to download to edit

• Examples: Wikipedia, Medpedia, POGOe wiki• Etymology: to hurry; quick, fast

(dictionary.reference.com)• Many people working on a large project all at

once

• Examples: FlickR, Youtube, iTunesU• Easy way to share media files• Find pictures, video, audio• Often can be rated (like, stars, etc) • Upload your own creations to share with

others

• Use blogging software: Wordpress, Movable Type

• Write about whatever you want• Readers can comment • One-sided if the writer can't engage• Can be a time sink trying to keep up.

• Example: Twitter• Like a blog, but much shorter• Twitter has a 140 character limit• Like texting, all of your followers at once• Use hashtags to add your tweets to a

conversation

• Examples: Facebook, LinkedIn• Broadcast your thoughts or photos to

your “friends” • Follow pages and groups• Separate personal from professional

• Example: POGOe Discussion Forum• An informal conversation over the internet• Easily archived and searchable

• Make sure you know who has access to your content.

• Be careful what you put out on the internet: Assume the “anti-vegas” rule

• Consider whether or not to friend patients/trainees.

• Find out if your institution has specific guidelines for professional social media use

• HIPAA rules still apply• Consider the AMA social media

guidelines

• You have specific experiences and knowledge that others can benefit from

• You can learn from or get help from others

• Follow “thought leaders” who will prescreen content for you

• Connect with colleagues, learn from experts, share resources

• Can provide new and exciting ways to connect with and teach your trainees

• Keep up with the increasingly tech savvy generations of new learners

Play around with the different types of social media. Learn and have fun.

And on that note, let’s try some things out. Later, you can try some of the things on this list: http://ow.ly/78n8x

• Movabletype.org• Google docs – docs.google.com• Dropbox.com• Slideshare.net• Wordpress.org• Facebook.com• Youtube.com• Linkedin.com• Wikipedia.org• FlickR.com• iTunesU - www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/• dictionary.reference.com/browse/wiki• tweetchat.com/room/dwrf11