Pearson 2021 Twitter for Career Advancement in Medicine
1. Tweeting for Career Advancement:
A Practical Guide to Leveraging Social Media
Amy Pearson, MD
American Society of Anesthesiologists
October 2021
Disclosures: Paid work for the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation as Social Media Manager, No other financial COI 1
@amypearsonmd
2. Objectives
1. Participants will identify one way in
which they can enhance the quality of
their Twitter profile
2. Participants will identify one method
for optimizing the content of their
tweets.
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@amypearsonmd
3. There are only 7 slides to this talk
– Why Twitter
– Why me?
– Optimizing your profile
– Optimizing the content of your tweets
– Expanding your reach
– Staying out of trouble
– YOUR mental health
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@amypearsonmd
4. Why Twitter
– There is a strong and robust #MedTwitter
community!
• Multidisciplinary & international
• More public-facing than Facebook, more
focused on content than LinkedIn
• Easier to share links to journal articles than
Instagram
• No need to learn TikTok dances!
– Leaders in anesthesiology (and
anesthesiology societies) gravitate
toward this platform
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@amypearsonmd
5. Why Me?
– Do you like talking about anesthesiology?
– Do you like meeting new people and
interacting with leaders in the field?
– Do you want to know about the top articles in
your field before they’re even published?
– Do you want to promote your research and
projects?
– Are you interested in jobs, opportunities, and
collaborations?
– Do you want to advance your career and be
a thought leader?
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@amypearsonmd
6. Optimizing your profile
– What is your brand? Create the profile
you WANT!
– Use hashtags, tags, +/- emojis
– Accurate credentials, please!
– Disclosures
– Don’t be a bot
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@amypearsonmd
7. Optimizing the content of your tweets
– Big picture or small
picture?
– Who is your
audience?
– How much of the
rest of your life do
you want to
disclose?
– Have a plan for how
you will interact with
potential patients
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@amypearsonmd
8. Expanding your reach
– Tagging
– Meeting and specialty hashtags
– Pictures, polls, gifs, threads
– Don’t start tweets with # or @
– DMs
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USE THESE POWERS
ONLY FOR GOOD
AND NOT EVIL
@amypearsonmd
9. Staying out of trouble
– Tweets last forever and go to everyone
– Know your employer’s social media policy
– Disclose, disclose, disclose
– ARGUMENTS
• Don’t bite!
• **The algorithm favors engagement, ANY
engagement. It wants to show you triggering
content.**
• Beware the sea lion
• Do not subtweet
• Mute > Block
– Pause before you post info about others
• HIPAA
• Pics and info about family and friends
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wikipedia
@amypearsonmd
10. YOUR mental health
– You do NOT need to reply to everyone that
tags or comments
– You can limit who can reply or see your
tweets and who can message you
– YOU decide when you check notifications,
don’t let Twitter or your phone do it for you
– PLAY THE LONG GAME
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Settings à Twitter à Notifications
@amypearsonmd
11. Your physical health
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iHunch, wikimedia
I’m a pain doc. I just want to say
thanks for keeping me in
business for the next 3 decades.
Your head in neutral position is
10-12 lbs. At 60 degrees of
flexion, it feels like 60 lbs! Please
be mindful of your posture,
exercise daily, and teach your
kids good habits now!
@amypearsonmd