I recently got a comment on the blog asking why people need to use Twitter, if they're already following blogs. I thought I would open this up to the blogosphere.
I personally use my Twitter account (@M_Lin) for a variety of reasons:
- I tweet the link to my blog whenever there is a new post (I just tweeted a link to this post!)
- Scan quick, real-time information from clinicians I trust
- Know "what's hot" in EM, medical education, and education technologies
- Learn of new blogs and websites which I didn't know about
- Quickly check tweets on-the-fly on my iPhone during downtimes
- Make new friends who I then meet in person at EM conferences!
Please comment below and include your Twitter name, if possible. I'd love to know why (or why you don't) use Twitter.
-Intellectual voyeurism. I've learned a TON of clinical knowledge and insight into the intangible "how to think like a clinician" skills.
ReplyDelete-My blogroll has increased manifold from looking at what others are reading.
-I can stay up-to-date with articles in press/popular topics easily and quickly (often before things appear in GoogleReader).
-It feels like more active learning than merely reading blogs because it's terribly tempting to chime in.
-Ability to virtually attend conferences with tweeted pearls and updates.
-@LWestafer
Awesome. Just added you to the blogroll. How did I NOT know about your blog?! Keep up the great work.
DeleteI use Twitter (@LostInPreMed) to communicate with the medical world as well as reach premed students like myself that are trying to get into medical school. I have a blog and podcast (LostInPreMed.org) where I discuss the struggles of the premed journey and using twitter is a very good way to reach those who listen and get their comments or questions, as well as update them with new episodes.
ReplyDeleteBecause I try and follow so many different doctor disciplines (including @M_Lin), I get a wide breadth of information and am constantly being updated on new research and technologies used in those fields. Twitter is a fast and easy way to stay updated on what is going on in the medical world!
Excellent points. Wait, what are you going to do when you finish your premed years? Will your new Twitter name be @FoundInMed?
DeleteKeeweedoc @keeweedoc
ReplyDeleteI use twitter because its a good way to communicate, keep up with papers/protocols but more than anything ideas.
Where i work their aint a journal club (ive tried) were mostly locum staffed so seniors doing CME/teaching is patchy.
I love finding something that makes you think ?why did i ever do it this way or a paper which gets a good analysis and discussion.
Thats were twitter shines #Discussion/Debate.
Ill give you a times its does lower its tone to something like the barrens chat..but mostly its pretty fun, entertaining and educational!
Good point -- it indeed does trigger thought-provoking questions and discussion. It's where I first heard about the bougie-facilitated chest tube technique.
DeleteI use Twitter for SonoSpot to have an additional avenue to share the new posts from my blog on bedside ultrasound topics, but I also use twitter to communicate and converse with others who ask a question or need a reference. Mainly, I see twitter as a quick up-to-date and need-to-share and talk about topics quickly type of forum - information that I may not place on my blog but want others to know or answer ASAP.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are already really fast in sharing quick up-to-date info, compared to journals and other print media. And Twitter is even faster! Agreed.
DeleteI use Twitter to promote my blog, my Medscape articles, and my pieces on EMNews. Additionally, I love following the vibrant discussions on leading topics in EM (when I can understand them) and benefit from being steered toward sentinel articles. Finally, there are a number of Tweeps who send out a fact or article a day or week or so--such as @EMEducation--that is a lot of fun to learn.
ReplyDeleteRick
@littlewhitecoat
In a way, Twitter (if you use it work) mirrors the educational theory of "spaced education" where it's been shown that spaced-out, intermittent teaching is absorbed and retained better than cramming. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteUse twitter to do all the things everyone else has said but we also have a departmental account where some I us tweet our teaching availabilty to trainees. Also use it to keep up with the latest football news! That's soccer for you Americans.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you are keeping 2 different Twitter accounts. Great idea to separate work from personal. What, no baseball?
Deleteit's my blog aggregator, and a great way to have continuing dialogue with other practitioners across the globe - @MDaware
ReplyDeleteBut the questions is do you aggregate blogs which are aggregators? Dizzying concept.
Deletegood point, hopefully I won't create an endless loop that collapses the internets
Deletethe only aggregating-blogs I use are the top-quality ones that include some original content (eg LITFL, ALEM...) -- I think of it less as aggregating, more of curating.
seth
I use twitter to help me pimp the gunners that ride along on the ambulance to observe prehospital medicine.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding, we have a great time with the residents!
I actually use it to keep up with what's coming out on the various EM blogs, video blogs and podcast that I follow. And to find new EM sites. Ultimately, to become a more knowledgeable paramedic and better clinician.
I'm intrigued by your ability to pimp gunners on ambulance shadowing shifts. Please share!
DeleteI have two twitter accounts, one personal and one "professional" (@emergmedottawa). The personal one I really use to follow sports (my sad Maple Leafs being the prime target). The professional one we use to mirror our posts on our FB page and will start to use for quick little updates (for example the CAEP conference is this weekend and will post about presentations, etc). Additionally, as people stated above we use it to follow the latest and greatest in EM (such as Michelle, Rob Rogers, Mike Cadogan.....etc.) for new happenings in our field.
ReplyDeleteAha, another 2-Twitter account person! Also, I think I'm the "latest" (usually one of the last to know things in the blog and twitter world) and the others definitely qualify as "greatest".
DeleteHow does everyone check their Twitter account? Do you log onto the Twitter website each time?
ReplyDeleteFred
I used to use the Twitter iPhone app, but now I use HootSuite, which allows me to check my Twitter and Facebook accounts on a single desktop and mobile app device. It's free. Check it out.
Deletewebsite, native iphone & ipad apps, depending on where i am. all have drawbacks (website doesnt allow quote retweet, ipad doesnt have interactions, iphone is slowest), i think i like the ipad best
DeleteI recently used my professional account @PEMTweets to conduct a 3 week trivia contest for residents at my institution focusing on topics in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Each day I would switch the theme (#PEMTweetsOrtho etc,.) in an effort to deploy a sort of mini-curriculum that mirrored the quick bedside learning our trainees get in the ED. I used my blog http://pemtweets.blogspot.com/ to reinforce the twitter content, and provide additional teaching.
ReplyDeleteAnd to answer Fred's question, I did most of it from my iPhone using the Twitter app.
Interesting fusion of Twitter and blogs. I find it that most residents don't use Twitter. I'm thrilled to hear that you've hooked some residents using a trivia Tweet contest. Nothing like the competitive spirit of physicians.
DeleteThat was the biggest barrier to getting them engaged with twitter - at this point they are one generation removed from being regular users - It will be interesting to see how the new crop of med students (some of which may have been born in 1990!) will be using social media in their education.
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