UTSW Has ‘Influential’ Social Media Presence at 2018 AHA Sessions

By Jainy Savla, M.D.
Research Fellow 

Social media platforms have become the easiest way to keep in touch with colleagues, friends, and family. These tools allow us to share ideas, update each other on major life events, and network within our social circles. The use of social media has expanded to generate debate and distribute information in a variety of fields, including academia and medicine.

Recently, platforms like Twitter have gained traction as venues to follow updates from large national conferences. A recently published study by Tanoue et al. in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes (2018;11:e005018) showed that the number of Twitter users at the American College of Cardiology conference rose by 193 percent from 2014 to 2016. Similarly, there was an increase in the total number of tweets generated during the conference, with the majority of those containing scientific content. The number of countries represented by Twitter users at the conference rose by 42 percent. The study highlighted the expanding role of social media as a global tool for education in the field of cardiology.