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Cardiology in focus
Utilizing social media for cardiovascular education
  1. Christina Mansour1,
  2. Nooshin Beygui2,
  3. Mamas A Mamas3,
  4. Purvi J Parwani4
  1. 1 Department of Medicine, Scripps Mercy Hospital, San Diego, California, USA
  2. 2 College of Medicine, Central Michigan University College of Medicine, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA
  3. 3 Keele Cardiovascular Research Institute, Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK
  4. 4 Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Purvi J Parwani, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, USA; drpurviparwani{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2021-320483

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    Introduction

    The use of social media (SoMe) has grown exponentially over the past few years and is ubiquitous in our society and everyday interactions, both socially and professionally.1 Cardiovascular (CV) professionals across the globe use SoMe in different ways, as a means for education, networking and research and as a social platform.2

    Basics of SoMe

    Different SoMe platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok offer a variety of unique tools. Facebook captures a vast audience, supporting communication by personal blogging and sharing of content in the form of images and videos. Instagram was first created as an online photo-sharing application, although more recently has evolved to create ‘reels’, which are short videos. Similarly, TikTok is another platform whose sole content is videos. Twitter is a platform that uses a microblogging interphase that provides users the ability to publish messages of up to 280 characters as well as embed images and videos into tweets. Twitter is the most popular platform within the CV community with its concise microblogging using ‘hashtag’, providing ease in sharing content and networking. #CardioTwitter is the network consisting of the CV Twitter community and makes it easier to find content related to CV education or other content relevant to the CV community.2 Medical professionals are increasingly leveraging these visually appealing platforms for educational purposes.

    Utility of SoMe in CV education

    Asynchronous education and real-time communication

    There are limited opportunities in traditional classroom learning for trainees given clinical responsibilities and duty-hour restriction. Over the past decade, asynchronous learning not bound by location or …

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @drcmansour, @MMamas1973

    • Contributors CM and NB produced the first draft. MAM and PP edited it and made Substantial contributions to the conception of the work; and revised it critically for important intellectual content; PP responsible for the final approval of the version to be published.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.