To the Editor –
Social media use has increased rapidly over the past decade, revolutionizing the way clinicians and patients exchange health-related information and experiences in real-time. With 2 billion global monthly users,1 Instagram allows its users to upload, edit, and share photo and video content with followers. The demographic with the highest Instagram use is U.S. adults between the ages of 18–29 (67%). Because Instagram appeals to the demographic with the highest number of medical students and residents, and heavily emphasizes visual content, it has become widely recognized as an educational tool in fields of medicine that rely heavily on visual aids, such as transplantation.2
Instagram, like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, has the potential to transform public education about organ donation and transplantation, raise awareness for organ donation campaigns, build users’ trust in the transplant system, and expand public health outreach worldwide.3,4 To characterize, and gain a better understanding of, transplant-related Instagram content, 2 investigators queried 15 medical and nonmedical transplant-related hashtags, and identified the 5 most popular posts for each as of November 10, 2022, (n=75) (Table 1). Duplicate posts, non-English posts, hair transplant posts, and posts unrelated to organ transplant were excluded. Thereafter, posts were characterized according to their source, procedure, purpose, and multimedia format, and analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Table 1:
Characteristics of Top Instagram Posts from 15 Transplant-Related Hashtags
| Characteristic | No. (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | ||
| Transplant Recipient | 19 (25.3%) | |
| Organization | 19 (25.3%) | |
| Transplant Recipient Family Member or Friend | 14 (18.7%) | |
| Member of the General Public | 6 (8.0%) | |
| Other | 6 (8.0%) | |
| Organ Donor | 4 (5.3%) | |
| Waitlist Candidate | 4 (5.3%) | |
| Medical Professional | 3 (4.0%) | |
| Procedure | ||
| Kidney Transplant | 14 (18.7%) | |
| Organ Donation | 14 (18.7%) | |
| Lung Transplant | 14 (18.7%) | |
| Liver Transplant | 10 (13.3%) | |
| Heart Transplant | 9 (12.0%) | |
| Living Kidney Donation | 8 (10.7%) | |
| Other | 6 (8.0%) | |
| Purpose | ||
| Family/Patient Testimony | 32 (42.7% | |
| Organ Donation Awareness/Finding an Organ Donor | 17 (22.7% | |
| Entertainment | 14 (18.7%) | |
| Educational | 12 (16.0%) | |
| Media Format | ||
| Images | 67 (89.3%) | |
| Videos | 7 (9.3%) | |
| Both | 1 (1.3% | |
The following transplant-related hashtags were queried--#donatelife, #transplant, #organdonation, #kidneytransplant, #giftoflife, #organdonor, #hearttransplant, #livertransplant, #kidneydonor, #lungtransplant, #organtransplant, #doublelungtransplant, #beadonor, #transplantlife, and #kidneydonation
Analysis of 75 Instagram posts yielded a total of 64 119 likes and 3799 comments. The sizeable number of likes and shares generated from this small number of posts is consistent with Instagram’s high average overall engagement rate of .65% (as compared to Facebook’s average overall engagement rate of .07%).5 Content creators were primarily transplant recipients (25%), non-profit organizations and academic institutions (ie, hospitals, research universities, organ procurement organizations, advocacy groups) (25%), and friends or families of transplant recipients (19%). The most common purposes for posting were to share family and/or patient testimonials (43%), to raise awareness for organ donation and help find potential donors (23%), to entertain (19%), and to educate the public (16%). The most common transplant-specific procedures featured or referenced were kidney transplant (19%), organ donation (19%), and lung transplant (19%) (Table 1). Of the 75 Instagram posts analyzed, 30 (40%) encouraged organ donation.
This analysis demonstrates that within transplant, Instagram is used mostly by transplant recipients, non-profit organizations and academic institutions, and donor families and friends to exchange personal experiences, encourage and raise awareness for organ donation, and connect with other patients, families, and potential donors.
Results are limited in their generalizability, because all data was collected at a single point in time. Additionally, our analysis excluded all non-English posts. Still, this study fills a gap in the literature by characterizing previously unstudied transplant-specific Instagram content. Further research into the effectiveness of Instagram campaigns in promoting organ donation and other transplant specific behaviors is still needed.
Instagram could be used to disseminate visually rich educational content, exchange experiences and personal narratives, raise awareness for organ donation, and expand existing social media practices for transplant candidates to identify and connect with potential living donors.
Footnotes
COMPETING INTERESTS
MLL is the Social Media Editor for Transplantation.
References
- 1.Statista. Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2023, ranked by number of monthly active users. Accessed May 24, 2023. Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-ofusers/. Accessed May 24, 2023.
- 2.Yu C, Sharma N. Growth and Utilization of Radiology Instagram Accounts: Insight and Template From an Online Radiologist Educator. Acad Radiol. 2022;29(4):609–618. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Cameron AM, Massie AB, Alexander CE, et al. Social media and organ donor registration: the Facebook effect. Am J Transplant. 2013;13(8):2059–2065. doi: 10.1111/ajt.12312 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Ruck JM, Henderson ML, Eno AK, et al. Use of Twitter in communicating living solid organ donation information to the public: An exploratory study of living donors and transplant professionals. Clin Transplant. 2019;33(1):e13447. doi: 10.1111/ctr.13447 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Instagram users, stats, data & trends. Accessed April 3, 2023. Available at https://datareportal.com/essential-instagram-stats. Accessed April 3, 2023.