Social media livestreaming to disseminate geriatrics research

INTRODUCTION

Social Media is an ever‐evolving source for people to obtain medical and aging‐related information.^{1, 2, 3} Health‐related forums have shown that both providers and patients are using social media.^{4, 5} With some less than credible sources present in social media, ⁶ it is critical that evidence‐based geriatrics research be disseminated. Social media livestreaming has made the leap into mainstream usability, with new functionality enabling users to provide information, have discussions, and interact directly with other users. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have integrated livestreaming into their functionality. We sought to use a livestreaming Twitter Spaces platform to disseminate geriatrics updates from the 2022 American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

METHODS

Twitter Spaces content

While attending the 2022 American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting, which occurred May 12–14, 2022 in Orlando, Florida, the authors and other attendees live tweeted innovative research findings, policy updates, and notable educational innovations under the #AGS22 designation. Selecting from the highest liked and most retweeted #AGS22 findings, livestreaming content was distilled into three themes: Medication management, Clinical practice, and COVID‐19 related. Each theme had between 3 and 5 new or practice changing geriatrics “take‐away” points (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1.

Twitter Spaces example event and recording

Setting up the social media livestream

Twitter Spaces is free to use and available to the public through the Twitter platform. Instructions for setting up a Twitter Spaces is available online. ⁷ Co‐hosts have the functionality to invite other to become speakers during question‐and‐answer sessions. The livestream session was set for May 24, 2022—about 10 days after the end of the #AGS22 conference—for 30 min during lunchtime (CST) and promoted 1 week prior on the institutional and co‐author twitter accounts. Once the live Twitter Spaces event ends, a recording is immediately available for anyone to listen to in the following 30 days. Twitter also retains audio copies for review for spam and abuse.

RESULTS

The Twitter Spaces livestreaming session entitled “Lightning Rounds: Updates from #AGS22” was held on May 24th, 2022 from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. (CST). In lead up to the session, social media posts about the event revealed 8752 impressions. An international audience of 10 people attended the livestream event and an additional 71 people listened to the recording in the following 2 days. Barriers were identified prior to the livestream in that many Twitter users had never heard of TwitterSpace. Direct messages were received by the co‐authors from interested attendees about “What is twitter spaces?,” “How do I join?,” “Where is the link?” Social media posts in response to these questions (e.g., “Want to participate in our upcoming Twitter Spaces? Check out this short video on how to join the conversation.”) resulted in 1505 impressions and 71 engagements. Feedback was generally positive (e.g., “Great session! I enjoyed it!”). Among the combined speakers and institution twitter feeds about the event, there were 13,903 overall total impressions and 355 total engagements, as of 2 days following the event.

DISCUSSION

We present the novel use of a social media livestream, via Twitter Spaces, as a feasible means of disseminating geriatrics research findings and other updates. Social media livestreaming can be leveraged by geriatrics and aging‐related researchers, educators, and policy makers to present and highlight their work or study findings, encourage adoption of clinical innovations, and raise awareness of updates related to the care of older adults. As livestreaming on twitter is fairly new, many users required directions on participation, which appeared to be a barrier and may improve with subsequent use. Those who wish to listen to the recording can access it through this link: https://twitter.com/NMGeriatrics/status/1531319526272409600 but should advance to 11:20 as the first part is the time spent organizing. As of this writing, the recording is saved on Twitter for 30 days following the event but hosts can download copies for further use. ⁷ Future directions could include Journal twitter accounts having authors discuss their research findings live, elevating twitter geriatrics medical education rounds, and connecting international geriatricians to discuss global issues. Social media livestreaming is a feasible means of disseminating geriatrics.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

All authors met criteria for authorship by (1) Conception and design of the study: Lee A. Lindquist, Sara A. Bradley, Vanessa Horn Bafia, Lauren French; (2) Data acquisition: Lee A. Lindquist, Vanessa Horn Bafia, Lauren French; (3) Analysis and interpretation of data: Lee A. Lindquist, Sara A. Bradley, Vanessa Horn Bafia; (4) Manuscript drafting: Lee A. Lindquist, Sara A. Bradley, Vanessa Horn Bafia; (5) Revising the manuscript critically for important intellectual content: All authors; (6) Approval of the version of the manuscript to be published: All authors.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

SPONSOR'S ROLE

None.