Social media impact in the Match: A survey of current trends in the United States

Abstract

Background: Applicants to integrated plastic and reconstructive surgery (PRS) residency in the United States spend exorbitant amounts of time and money throughout the interview process. Outside of first-hand experience through a visiting rotation, applicants utilize various resources in learning about a program. Today's applicants are "Millennials," the demographic cohort raised during the information age and proficient with digital technology. The authors evaluated whether programs have a presence on social media, and whether applicants are following these accounts.

Methods: An online survey was sent to applicants to a single integrated plastic surgery program evaluating basic demographics, social media utilization, and sources of information accessed throughout the residency application process. A manual search of popular social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) was performed in October 2019. Accounts affiliated with integrated PRS programs were identified and analyzed.

Results: Eighty-four of 222 applicants (37.8%) completed the survey. Ninety-six percent of applicants were within the Millennial demographic. Ninety-six percent of applicants had some form of social media presence, with Facebook (90%) and Instagram (87%) being the most popular platforms. Seventy-three percent of applicants reported following a PRS residency social media account. As of October 2019, 59 integrated residency programs (73%) have active Instagram accounts.

Conclusions: Applicants still rely on the program website when researching potential residencies, but social media is being rapidly adopted by programs. Program social media accounts should be used as a dynamic form of communication to better inform applicants of program strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords: Education, medical, graduate; Internship and residency; Social media; Surgery, plastic.

Fig. 1.. Applicant survey responses sources of program information

Survey results quantifying where applicants access information when researching programs during away rotations (VSAS) versus interview applications (ERAS). VSAS, Visiting Student Application Service; ERAS, Electronic Residency Application Service.

Fig. 2.. Likelihood of applicants accessing information sources

Self-reported results of whether an applicant would be likely to access a given source of information.

Fig. 3.. Plastic surgery residency program social media accounts

Number of active plastic and reconstructive surgery residency Instagram accounts, cumulative.

Fig. 4.. Analysis of PRS residency social media accounts

A graphic depiction of comparison between different variables of social media accounts for plastic and reconstructive surgery (PRS) accounts. (A) Number of posts compared to number of followers; (B) number of posts compared to age of account; (C) age of posts compared to number of followers.