Table 1.
Social media platforms and use among surgeons for research dissemination
| Type | Description | Examples | Examples of use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social networks | Software that allows people to connect, either with known contacts or strangers who share similar interests via groups and hashtags, and share multimedia and links | Facebook, Instagram | Some journals have Facebook and Instagram accounts to share papers and visual abstracts, and some groups such as the International Bariatric Club hold themed online chats |
| Business networks | As above, with a focus on sharing professional information and resumes | Share professional updates and blog posts, participate in group conversations | |
| Science and research networks | Allow researchers to log and share publications and other academic work | ResearchGate, Mendeley | Log and share papers, request access to papers that are behind a paywall |
| Blogging | A way to publish articles online in various formats in a user-controlled way | WordPress, Tumblr | Editorialize and summarize work in plain language. Useful for public engagement |
| Microblogging | Character-limited posts, able to share multimedia and URL links | Used by large number of journals and researchers to share research summaries, links to papers, and teaching cases | |
| Video sharing | Allow users to “vlog” and share videos to followers or the general public | YouTube, AIS (Advances in Surgery), WebSurg | Used for sharing educational videos, lectures, and videos of surgical techniques |
| Gaming networks | Allow players to play together, stream games, and chat online | Twitch | Potential for simulation training |
| Wiki-based | Collaborative editing of an information source | Wikipedia, SAGES Surgical Wiki | Can contribute to evidence-based surgical knowledge, citing scientific papers as sources |
| Group-messaging service | Allows users to send instant messages across different platforms to contacts and channels | WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, WeChat | Can share papers with contacts |
| Discussion fora | Website that allows social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion | Discord, Reddit | Ability to chat online about new papers |