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. 2021 Apr;87(4):514-519.
doi: 10.1177/0003134820942290. Epub 2020 Oct 19.

Twitter Hashtag and Online Engagement During Surgical Society Meetings Over a 5-Year Period

Adel Elkbuli  1 , Kristen Santarone  1 , Evander Meneses  1 , Mark McKenney  1   2
Affiliations

Twitter Hashtag and Online Engagement During Surgical Society Meetings Over a 5-Year Period

Adel Elkbuli et al. Am Surg. 2021 Apr.

Expression of concern in

  • Expression of Concern.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Am Surg. 2025 Mar;91(3):464-472. doi: 10.1177/00031348241305412. Epub 2025 Jan 10. Am Surg. 2025. PMID: 39791244 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: Utilizing social media platforms can augment medical conferences by sharing new knowledge and information through hashtags. We aim to investigate the use of Twitter, enhanced conference experience, and education at the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) Annual Scientific Assembly 2016-2020.

Methods: EAST hashtags were analyzed for the Annual Scientific Assembly 2016-2020: #EAST2016, #EAST2017, #EAST2018, #EAST2019, and #EAST2020. Using #EAST2016 as a baseline, active interaction through engagement, measured by tweets and retweets, passive interaction through impressions, measured by views, as well as users, and influencers were analyzed.

Results: 2016-2018 saw a significant increase in engagement (7400 to 9200 to 11 000, respectively, P < .05). 2018-2020 then showed a significant decrease in engagement (11 000 to 9000 to 6700, respectively, P < .05). Impressions, increased significantly from 2016 to 2020 (6.6 million to 13.3 million to 12.6 million to 19.9 million to 20.3 million, respectively, P < .05). Users significantly increased to 2700 in 2018 compared with 1000 in 2016 (P < .05), and significantly decreased to 814 in 2020 compared with 2700 in 2018 (P < .05). The top online influencer was the EAST organization Twitter account.

Conclusion: #EAST2016-2018 showed a significant increase in engagement between users, measured by tweets/retweets. However, #EAST2019-2020 suffered declines in users' engagement, maybe a result of social media fatigue. Although, #EAST2016-2020 showed a significant increase in impressions. Both passive and to a more extent active forms of online social media engagement can potentially disseminate new knowledge and medical information. Scientific societies should focus on more effective ways to maintain and enhance users' online experience and engagement toward better utilization of social media platforms.

Keywords: Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma; Twitter; health care hashtags; knowledge dissemination; social media engagement.

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