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 |
LinkedIn |
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 |
Twitter |
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 |