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A Twitter Education: Why Psychiatrists Should Tweet

  • Psychiatry in the Digital Age (JS Luo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Psychiatry Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social media tools such as blogs, microblogs, social networking sites, podcasts, and video-sharing sites are now ubiquitous. These tools enable instantaneous interactions with a global community of individuals, including medical professionals, learners, and patients. An understanding of social media tools and how they can be used by psychiatrists is increasingly important. This review defines some relevant social media terms and addresses challenges specific to the use of social media in psychiatry. Focused primarily on Twitter, one of the most commonly used social media tools, the review describes how Twitter is being used in non-psychiatric medical fields and highlights four current and/or potential uses of Twitter in psychiatry: (1) patient care and advocacy, (2) lifelong learning, (3) research data collection and collaboration, and (4) scholarly recognition and impact.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Matthew E. Peters, Elisabeth Uible & Margaret S. Chisolm

  2. 5300 Alpha Commons Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Margaret S. Chisolm

Authors
  1. Matthew E. Peters
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  2. Elisabeth Uible
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  3. Margaret S. Chisolm
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Margaret S. Chisolm.

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Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Conflict of Interest

Matthew E. Peters and Elisabeth Uible declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Margaret S. Chisolm has received royalties, as Co-Editor-in-Chief, from the International Review of Psychiatry and has received paid travel accommodations from the American Society of Nephrology.

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No funding or other support was received for this project.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psychiatry in the Digital Age

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Peters, M.E., Uible, E. & Chisolm, M.S. A Twitter Education: Why Psychiatrists Should Tweet. Curr Psychiatry Rep 17, 94 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0635-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0635-4

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