Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort?
The medical community disseminates information increasingly using social media. Randomised controlled trials are being conducted in this area to evaluate effectiveness of social media with mixed results so far, but more trials are likely to be published in the coming years. One recent twitter random...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41923/ |
| _version_ | 1848796383387058176 |
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| author | Jayaram, Mahesh Moran, Lindsay Adams, Clive E. |
| author_facet | Jayaram, Mahesh Moran, Lindsay Adams, Clive E. |
| author_sort | Jayaram, Mahesh |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The medical community disseminates information increasingly using social media. Randomised controlled trials are being conducted in this area to evaluate effectiveness of social media with mixed results so far, but more trials are likely to be published in the coming years. One recent twitter randomised control trial using Cochrane Schizophrenia Group reviews suggests that tweets increase the hits to the target web page by about threefold and time spent on the web page is also increased threefold when referrals come in via twitter. These are early findings and need further replication. Twitter appeals to professionals, entertainers and politicians among others as a means of networking with peers and connecting with the wider public. Twitter, in particular, seems to be well placed for use by the medical community and is effective in promoting messages, updating information, interacting with each other locally and internationally and more so during conferences. Twitter is also increasingly used to disseminate evidence in addition to traditional media such as academic peer-reviewed journals. Caution is required using twitter as inadvertent tweets can lead to censure. Overall, the use of twitter responsibly by the medical community will increase visibility of research findings and ensure up to date evidence is readily accessible. This should open the door for further trials of different social media platforms to evaluate their effectiveness in disseminating accurate high-quality information instantaneously to a global audience. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:47:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-41923 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:47:07Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-419232020-05-04T18:28:13Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41923/ Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? Jayaram, Mahesh Moran, Lindsay Adams, Clive E. The medical community disseminates information increasingly using social media. Randomised controlled trials are being conducted in this area to evaluate effectiveness of social media with mixed results so far, but more trials are likely to be published in the coming years. One recent twitter randomised control trial using Cochrane Schizophrenia Group reviews suggests that tweets increase the hits to the target web page by about threefold and time spent on the web page is also increased threefold when referrals come in via twitter. These are early findings and need further replication. Twitter appeals to professionals, entertainers and politicians among others as a means of networking with peers and connecting with the wider public. Twitter, in particular, seems to be well placed for use by the medical community and is effective in promoting messages, updating information, interacting with each other locally and internationally and more so during conferences. Twitter is also increasingly used to disseminate evidence in addition to traditional media such as academic peer-reviewed journals. Caution is required using twitter as inadvertent tweets can lead to censure. Overall, the use of twitter responsibly by the medical community will increase visibility of research findings and ensure up to date evidence is readily accessible. This should open the door for further trials of different social media platforms to evaluate their effectiveness in disseminating accurate high-quality information instantaneously to a global audience. BMJ Publishing Group 2017-02-01 Article PeerReviewed Jayaram, Mahesh, Moran, Lindsay and Adams, Clive E. (2017) Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? Evidence Based Mental Health, 20 (1). pp. 1-3. ISSN 1362-0347 http://ebmh.bmj.com/content/20/1/1 doi:10.1136/eb-2016-102580 doi:10.1136/eb-2016-102580 |
| spellingShingle | Jayaram, Mahesh Moran, Lindsay Adams, Clive E. Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| title | Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| title_full | Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| title_fullStr | Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| title_short | Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| title_sort | twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort? |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41923/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41923/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41923/ |