Showing posts with label Social Media Physicians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media Physicians. Show all posts

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Social Media Tools For Physicians?


Whether you are an avid tweeter, write a blog, or are a novice to professional social media, your online presence has the power to connect you with potential patients just down the street or colleagues working on similar research across the world..


Having a strong online voice is part of your brand. 

Any communication by or about you, such as your name being listed on your practice's website, is part of your brand.

Taking control of how you are perceived by others helps to build your professional reputation. Whether you want to expand your practice, find colleagues to collaborate with, or are looking for career opportunities, your reputation is key to achieving your goals.

In a recent article on branding, we brought you tips on how to define and establish your brand. Here, we delve deeper into how to capitalize on the most useful professional social media platforms for physicians.


LinkedIn: Bringing The World To You

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network, with more than 500 million registered users worldwide.


Half of these users are college graduates, and 45 percent report household incomes of $75,000 or more per year.

Kevin Pho, M.D. - an internal medicine physician and co-author of the book Establishing, Managing and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices - sees several benefits from having a LinkedIn profile. "LinkedIn is a low-threat, low-resource, high-yield action," he said.

Unlike physician rating sites, a social media profile offers more control over how you are presented, Dr. Pho explained. Also, LinkedIn profiles are ranked highest out of all social media platforms, reducing the impact of negative news or physician rating sites.

After registering at LinkedIn.com, create the most thorough profile possible, recommended Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., in an article published on Medjobnetwork.com.

The more complete your profile is, the higher it ranks. The basic information to share is your education, medical expertise, areas of interest, professional experience, the address and phone number of your practice, and links to your website (if you have one).



To make the most of your LinkedIn profile, follow these simple steps:
  • Upload a picture of yourself looking professional but approachable.
  • Personalize your headline.
  • Add keywords, including the name and location of your practice.
  • List at least five of your strongest skills as a physician.
  • Search for colleagues already on LinkedIn and invite them to connect.
  • Join LinkedIn groups that match your interests.
  • Be active by commenting on others' posts and sharing articles of interest, including your own.
  • Finally, customize your profile URL, and include it in your email signature.
LinkedIn allows you to build up a substantial network of connections, communicate directly with other members, post updates, share stories from other outlets, and importantly, track who has viewed your profile.

Doximity: Catering to HCP's

While LinkedIn is low in physician resources, Doximity is high.


Similar to LinkedIn but exclusive to healthcare professionals in the United States, Doximity connects more than 800,000 of them - 600,000 of which are physicians.

"Doximity has emerged as the core professional profile for doctors and one that's totally within the physician's control," said Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. - director of community medicine for the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition for Texas Children's Hospital in Houston - in his blog. "It's the first place I go to update my professional status as it changes."

Creating your profile is easy; you can automatically upload your CV. Conveniently, Doximity keeps your CV updated by scanning the web for information about your latest achievements.

It doesn't stop there. Doximity profile updates are also immediately reflected in U.S. News & World Report physician profiles.

Including your clinical interests allows you to receive the most relevant referrals and news from their DocNews newsfeed. The site also lets you know when your work is being discussed in online conversations.

In addition to connecting physicians with job offers, the site offers CME/CE credits, a residency navigator, and an annual salary survey.



For communicating with your patients, a free digital fax and messaging service provides HIPAA-secure communication from any mobile device. Another tool displays your office number when you call patients from your cell phone.

Between its far-reaching network and well-conceived resources, Doximity expands your influence while boosting your practice on the most practical levels.

Twitter: Big Impact in Small Bites

The microblogging site lets you make an impact in 140-character posts called "tweets." Quotes and attached media are excluded from the character count. While anyone can read tweets, only registered users can post them.

Tweets often include photos and links. Hashtags (such as #cancer) identify terms and help to organize information. The names, or "handles," of other users are preceded by the @ symbol (such as @mnt).

Physicians usually follow other physicians, allowing them to interact with colleagues interested in the same news, advances, or advocacy.



"On Twitter you can follow thought leaders in any area of medicine and healthcare," Dr. Pho explained. "I have a Twitter list that has 40 healthcare thought leaders that I follow dozens of times a day. To me it's one of the most powerful ways to stay up to date in my area of medicine and healthcare."

Twitter can also bring you the latest news from major medical journals, including pre-published articles as well as policy updates and educational events.

The platform is especially useful for getting insight into patients' perspectives, as many patients and advocacy groups tweet regularly.

Through Twitter, you can even attend medical conferences virtually, by following attendees' tweets. Sharing research findings is easy and can lead to new collaborations.

In 2015, the California Association of Family Physicians (AFP) took to Twitter for vaccine legislation.

Up for debate was a bill that would end personal belief exemptions for vaccines. Going up against thousands of Twitter comments opposing the bill, the California AFP formed a coalition with pediatricians and public health officials, tweeting to educate patients and the media.

The result saw California become the third state to ban personal belief exemptions for vaccines.



To add your voice to Twitter, sign up for a free account on Twitter.com. Then, create a profile that includes your name, credentials, and a picture. Search by using hashtags to find the topics most pertinent to you.

Begin by following the physicians and thought leaders who interest you, and "retweet" the most insightful ones. Once you start tweeting your own thoughts and links to original articles, be ready to field the responses.

A record of all your tweets is conveniently stored on your home page.

YouTube: Patients See You in Action

While Twitter plugs you into the latest research and gives you a forum to share yours, YouTube can be even more personal.

A short video introducing yourself allows potential patients to start getting to know you before even making an appointment.

YouTube videos can also be a way to educate patients about your services, without any overt marketing.

Orthopedic surgeon C. Noel Henley, M.D., uses YouTube videos to put patients at ease about their upcoming surgeries.



On his blog, he said, "This week, my patient requested a specific procedure. We agreed it should be done, and [...] I fired up my iPad in the office and showed him a 2-minute video of the procedure I created and uploaded to YouTube using free software [...] He was crystal clear on the procedure and prepared for what will happen in a few weeks."

In addition to educating and reassuring existing patients, a YouTube channel can also bring new clients to your door. Using video clips, you can explain illnesses, perform exercises, or demonstrate early detection techniques.

Dr. Henley wrote, "YouTube sends my practice website a large percentage of my best monthly traffic. Last month, the visitors from my YouTube channel stayed on my website longer than most people, and viewed more pages than average."

"This makes sense: a person who watches one of my videos is already interested in my information and wants to know more - before they arrive on my website. If you want to be found by patients, you need to be on YouTube before your local competition figures this out."

To get started, sign up for a free YouTube account. Search for channels relevant to your field, and see what the competition is doing.



Once you're ready to try your hand at it, invest in a high-quality camera. Ensure that you have enough lighting and excellent audio. Choose a setting appropriate to the topic. Videos can be edited with a free tool such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.

To get the most out of your channel:
  • Add a professional profile picture to help legitimize your channel.
  • Link back to your practice website, to your other social media accounts, and to similar YouTube channels.
  • End the video by encouraging viewers to subscribe to your channel and directing them to your website.
  • Take advantage of YouTube's free tracking tool to see which videos are most popular. This shows you what additional videos and web pages your viewers might like.
Hootsuite: Tying it All Together

When using multiple social media platforms, one simple tool can make you much more efficient: Hootsuite.

While both free and paid versions are available, the free version allows you to manage three social media profiles and track follower growth.



It also shows you which content you post is most popular, lets you schedule content to post, and integrates two RSS feeds that find and share content from sources you choose.

Dr. Pho turns to the tool to monitor Twitter conversations, as well as any mentions of his handle and his name, and to manage pages and posts on various social media platforms.

"The free version is powerful enough for the majority of physicians," said Dr. Pho. "It's an essential social media tool and I highly recommend it to any physician using social media."

As you ease into social media, start small. Dr. Vartabedian noted, "It doesn't take much. Share your successes and tell some stories on a LinkedIn page and a Twitter account, and you're off to the races."

Guest Authored By Lisa Chontos. Lisa is a Freelance Medical Writer specializing in marketing and consumer health, and French & Spanish translation into English. Follow Lisa on Twitter.





"Having a strong online voice is part of your brand.

Any communication by or about you, such as your name being listed on your practice's website, is part of your brand.

Taking control of how you are perceived by others helps to build your professional reputation.

Whether you want to expand your practice, find colleagues to collaborate with, or are looking for career opportunities, your reputation is key to achieving your goals.."

    • Authored by:
      Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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    Monday, May 12, 2025

    Physicians - Make Or Break Careers On Social Media?


    For doctors in the digital age, your social media fingerprint has the power to either advance or damage your career..

    Whether you're using social media to post pictures of your vacation in the Cayman Islands or to reach out to colleagues regarding a challenging patient, the line between personal and professional, as well as what's appropriate, can sometimes become blurred.

    Research has shown that many physicians using social media report minimal formal training in professional conduct online, as well as a lack of awareness regarding which guidelines to follow.

    A number of recent studies have highlighted the level of unprofessional social media content posted by physicians.

    These included profanity, references to (or appearing to be) intoxicated, and sexually suggestive photographs. They also included possible HIPAA violations, which have the potential to damage careers.

    While this behavior has been observed across all career stages, including attending physicians, the levels were highest among residents and recently graduated physicians.



    It's easy to get caught out when talking about patients online, as an article in The Hospitalist highlighted.

    Even supposedly innocuous identifying features can "turn a seemingly harmless post on social media into a patient privacy violation."

    "Any physician who uses social media has to be mindful and conscious about protecting private patient information even on personal accounts," said Toni Brayer, M.D., chief executive officer of Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San Francisco, CA.

    But your online presence and interactions can also be powerful tools, said ophthalmology resident Steven M. Christiansen, M.D., an avid blogger and Twitter user based at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

    How can you turn social media to your advantage? And what guidelines can you follow to make the most of professional social media?



    Using Social Media For Your Reputation

    Matt Dull, M.D. - who is due to start his critical care fellowship at the Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI - became interested in using social media professionally when he heard a keynote speaker at a national medical conference discuss the fact that patients were looking for providers on social media.

    "He said that being engaged with your patients on social media will be of increasing importance in the years to come," Dr. Dull explained.

    As a resident, he said, he doesn't need to engage patients outside the hospital. But, he added, "In the future, I will be looking for ways to reach patients and potential patients through social media."

    Indeed, an increasing number of patients turn to doctor rating sites such as Rate MD, Yelp, and Vitals when choosing a physician.

    "We know that [those sites] are increasingly important avenues for patients seeking more information about healthcare providers," said Dr. Brayer. "We've learned that 'stars' matter and we celebrate good reviews internally and respond to any patient complaints directly for our physicians."



    As Dr. Christiansen noted, "We have worked too hard in our training to let a few poor ratings keep patients from coming to see us. Social media can help us create and establish an online presence we control."

    One of the greatest benefits of social media for physicians is the ability to connect with colleagues to improve diagnostic and other medical skills.

    "I only recently started using social media for professional purposes," said Dr. Dull. He started by joining the International Hernia Collaborative, a large Facebook group for surgeons to discuss complex hernia operations.

    "From there, I found all of the other professional ways to leverage social media," he said. "I now regularly find interesting journal articles, medical blog posts, and discussions of new therapies through Twitter."

    Indeed, a survey of 153 Dutch clinicians found that 76 percent of them used Twitter to extend their network of colleagues, while 71 percent used it to update their colleagues about their work.



    Pathologists, for instance, use social media to share images with colleagues, students, patients, and even the general public, while professional medical organizations such as the American College for Chest Physicians use it to promote their specialty and provide education, which extends to patients.

    "I use social media to promote health and wellness and as a way of letting people know what is happening in my organization and in the community," said Dr. Brayer. "As a physician I have a strong voice and see myself as an expert with useful information."

    Twitter is also becoming a hugely effective tool for communicating content live from medical meetings.

    Dr. Christensen and his colleagues published a study in Ophthalmology in August 2016, comparing Twitter activity during the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2014 and 2015 meetings. The "tweets" reached 23.7 million Twitter users in 2014, and 24.5 million in 2015.



    Social media is also a powerful outlet for advocacy, says Dr. Christensen.

    A 1-minute YouTube video that highlighted his ophthalmology-related discussions with congressional representatives was viewed 1,700 times in the first week of its posting.
    "I can tell you that my involvement in social media has opened up countless opportunities to network with others both within ophthalmology and many other specialties." -Steven M. Christiansen, M.D.
    Whether you are going to use social media to connect with your colleagues, reach out to potential patients, or educate the general public, adhering to professional guidelines is key to protecting yourself and turning social media to your own advantages.

    Practice Safe Social Media

    The American Medical Association (AMA), and most specialty medical societies, have developed ethics policies on the use of social media during the past few years.



    These recommendations tend to revolve around the privacy of both you and your patients. Here is a summary:
    1. Do not post any patient-identifiable information anywhere, ever.
    2. Set privacy settings on media sites to protect your own information and content, but know that even if you restrict your posts to your own network, the information can leak out. A good rule of thumb is to never post anything that you wouldn't want to see in a peer-reviewed journal.
    3. Maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship. Just because you are online doesn't mean that the rules are relaxed.
    4. Separate your personal and professional content. Set up a separate Facebook page to promote your practice or talk about professional issues, and leave the personal one for family and friends - not patients.
    5. Say something if you see a colleague posting unprofessional content that may violate professional standards.
    6. Recognize the potential consequences of your online life, including negatively affecting your reputation among patients and colleagues.
    Dr. Brayer has first-hand experience of putting these guidelines into practice. An emergency department physician who Dr. Brayer friended on Facebook frequently mentioned patients that she had treated.


    "Even though no names were used, it bothered me to see those posts," Dr. Brayer said. As the AMA policy suggests, Dr. Brayer told her friend that these posts could violate privacy rules.

    "I would recommend health professionals should never post anything with stories about patients or conditions, even if they think they are shrouding identity. It's too close of a line to walk and patient privacy is our oath and responsibility," Dr. Brayer said.

    If you are new to the professional side of social media, here are five simple tips to follow:
    1. Start a professional Twitter feed and share things that you are already doing - for example, medical conferences that you attend, clinical research, and important clinical studies in your field.
    2. Keep the personal and the professional accounts separate. For instance, have two Twitter handles, two Facebook pages, and two Instagram accounts.
    3. Make it clear that you are speaking only on behalf of yourself and are not representing your employer.
    4. Don't ever give medical advice in a public forum.
    5. Expect criticism from colleagues. Use that to educate them on the value of social media done right.
    Related Article: Healthcare Organizations Missing The Social Media Boat?

    "With all of its problems, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay," Dr. Brayer commented. "As healthcare professionals we should use this tool as much as possible to promote health, nutrition, medical-political points of view such as information on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare legislation, and changes in Medicare and Medicaid. I believe the public is hungry for accurate health news they can trust."

    Guest Authored By Debra Gordon. Debra is an independent healthcare communications consultant specializing in health, medicine, and health policy for consumer, medical, and corporate audiences since September 1999. Her particular specialty is healthcare reform, with in-depth knowledge around the Affordable Care Act; new healthcare delivery models, including Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes; Medicare and Medicaid policy; value-based purchasing; health information technology; quality and cost issues; managed care; and patient empowerment. Debra is one of only a handful of medical writers who can confidently communicate about the juxtaposition of healthcare reform and the clinical side of medicine for a variety of audiences, ranging from consumers to physicians to healthcare organizations, businesses, and vendors. She brings more than 25 years experience in the healthcare field as a newspaper reporter covering health and medicine for two major daily papers; provider relations manager for a mid-sized managed care organization; book editor and author; and, for the last 15 years, an independent medical communications consultant. Follow Debra on Twitter. 





    With all of its problems, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay," Dr. Brayer commented.

    "As healthcare professionals we should use this tool as much as possible to promote health, nutrition, medical-political points of view such as information on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare legislation, and changes in Medicare and Medicaid.

    I believe the public is hungry for accurate health news they can trust.."


      • Authored by:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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