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Social Media and the Practicing Hematologist: Twitter 101 for the Busy Healthcare Provider

  • Social Media Impact of Hematologic Malignancies (N Pemmaraju, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social media is a relatively new form of media that includes social networks for communication dissemination and interaction. Patients, physicians, and other users are active on social media including the microblogging platform Twitter. Many online resources are available to facilitate joining and adding to online conversations. Social media can be used for professional uses, therefore, we include anecdotes of physicians starting on and implementing social media successfully despite the limits of time in busy practices. Various applications demonstrating the utility of social media are explored. These include case discussions, patient groups, research collaborations, medical education, and crowdsourcing/crowdfunding. Social media is integrating into the professional workflow for some individuals and hematology/oncology societies. The potential for improving hematology care and research is just starting to be explored.

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Acknowledgments

The authors have commented on a few of their mentors in social media in this publication, but we all have mentored each other and have benefited from the guidance of many more tweeps not mentioned. We appreciate Dr. Mohamad Mohty (@Mohty_EBMT) and his work in advancing social media at the EBMT. We acknowledge Joe Grundle of Aurora Research Institute (Milwaukee, WI) for helping edit this manuscript. Auden Utengen provided analytics from Symplur, LLC (@Symplur). We are grateful for the social net analysis provided by Gregg Masters and the W2O group.

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

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Conflict of Interest

Michael A. Thompson, William A. Wood, Miguel-Angel Perales, and Mélanie Chaboissier each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Navneet S. Majhail reports personal fees and serves on Anthem’s National Transplant Center Accreditation Panel.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Early Phase Cancer Research Program, Co-PI, Aurora NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), Aurora Research Institute, Aurora Health Care, 960 N. 12th St., Room 3144, Milwaukee, WI, 53233, USA

    Michael A. Thompson

  2. Blood & Marrow Transplant Program, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, R35, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA

    Navneet S. Majhail

  3. UNC-Chapel Hill, Clinical Research, Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma Program, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Physicians Office Building, 170 Manning Drive, 3rd Floor, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, USA

    William A. Wood

  4. Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Physicians Office Building, 170 Manning Drive, 3rd Floor, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, USA

    William A. Wood

  5. Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, Box 298, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Miguel-Angel Perales

  6. Weill Cornell Medical College, 1275 York Avenue, Box 298, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Miguel-Angel Perales

  7. European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Executive Office, C/ Rosselló 140, 1°-1ª, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Mélanie Chaboissier

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  1. Michael A. Thompson
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  2. Navneet S. Majhail
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  3. William A. Wood
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  4. Miguel-Angel Perales
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  5. Mélanie Chaboissier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael A. Thompson.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Social Media Impact of Hematologic Malignancies

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Thompson, M.A., Majhail, N.S., Wood, W.A. et al. Social Media and the Practicing Hematologist: Twitter 101 for the Busy Healthcare Provider. Curr Hematol Malig Rep 10, 405–412 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11899-015-0286-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11899-015-0286-x

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