MONTRÉAL (October 19, 2015)- Social media is a tool that groups have adopted to help educate, market, and promote causes or topics to a broad audience. Researchers examined trends in social media use at pulmonary and critical care conferences and found substantial growth and adoption of Twitter. Over the past two years, three major critical care conferences have used Twitter and garnered impressions far surpassing the number of attendees at each conference.
The study used Symplur metrics to examine the 2013 and 2014 hashtags of the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Annual Meeting, the American Thoracic Society Annual Meeting, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine Congress. In the first year each conference had an average of 1,943 tweets by 380 individuals resulting in more than 6.6 million impressions, and in the second year the impressions increased to 32.6 million views. Overall, 71 percent of tweets were by healthcare providers and 29 percent were by industry, advocacy groups, organizations or journals, compared with 65 percent and 34 percent in the second year.
"Conference organizers should consider integrating social media into conferences to broaden their reach," said Dr. Chris Carroll, Connecticut Children's Medical Center physician and lead researcher, "Tactics could include promotion of social media through traditional communication vehicles before and during the meeting. "
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Further results will be shared during CHEST 2015 on Wednesday, October 28, 2015, at 8:45 am at Palais des congrès de Montréal, room 512cg. The study abstract can be viewed on the CHEST website.
CHEST 2015 is the 81st annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held October 24-28, 2015, in Montréal, Canada. The American College of Chest Physicians, publisher of the journal CHEST, is the global leader in advancing best patient outcomes through innovative chest medicine education, clinical research, and team-based care. Its mission is to champion the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chest diseases through education, communication, and research. It serves as an essential connection to clinical knowledge and resources for its 18,700 members from around the world who provide patient care in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. For more information about CHEST 2015, visit http://chestmeeting.chestnet.org, or follow the CHEST meeting hashtag, #CHEST2015, on social media.