Current state of social media utilization in neurosurgery amongst European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) member countries

Aria Nouri; Julien Haemmerli; Alexandre Lavé; Pia Vayssiere; Paul Constanthin; Abdullah Al-Awadhi; Gregory Zegarek; Insa Janssen; Hans Clusmann; Christian F Freyschlag; Johannes Goldberg; Marcus Czabanka; Martin N Stienen; Philippe Bijlenga; Karl Schaller

doi:10.1007/s00701-021-04939-4

Current state of social media utilization in neurosurgery amongst European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) member countries

Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2022 Jan;164(1):15-23. doi: 10.1007/s00701-021-04939-4. Epub 2021 Jul 27.

Authors

Aria Nouri¹, Julien Haemmerli², Alexandre Lavé², Pia Vayssiere², Paul Constanthin², Abdullah Al-Awadhi³, Gregory Zegarek², Insa Janssen², Hans Clusmann⁴, Christian F Freyschlag⁵, Johannes Goldberg⁶, Marcus Czabanka⁷, Martin N Stienen⁸, Philippe Bijlenga^{2

3}, Karl Schaller^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Geneva University Hospitals, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. arianouri9@gmail.com.
² Department of Neurosurgery, Geneva University Hospitals, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, University Clinic for Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, Charité University Hospital, Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Department of Neurosurgery, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Abstract

Background: Social Media (SoMe) is becoming increasingly used in the medical community, and its use has been related with academic productivity. However, utilization of SoMe in the European neurosurgical community has not been assessed systematically.

Methods: An online search was undertaken to discover SoMe accounts of (1) national and related neurosurgical societies listed on the EANS website, (2) neurosurgical journals present on EANS website, (3) neurosurgery centers within EANS member countries, as listed on their website. SoMe accounts of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram were searched for journals and societies, and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for neurosurgery departments. The number of likes/followers/subscribers was recorded.

Results: Five (31%) neurosurgery journals had a SoMe presence. The highest number of followers, likes, and tweets was found for JNNP, and Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B had the most subscribers and video views. SoMe usage was identified for 11 national (28.2%) and 2 multi-national neurosurgical societies. From these, the French Society of Neurosurgery had the largest number of Facebook followers (> 2800) and Likes (> 2700), the Society of British Neurological Surgeons had the largest number of Twitter followers (> 2850), whereas EANS overall had the most followers on Twitter > 5100 and Facebook > 5450. A total of 87 SoMe neurosurgery center accounts were found on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, for 64 of 1000 centers (6.4%) in 22 of 40 different countries (55%). Of these 67% (n = 43/64) arose from 6 countries (England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine). There were more Facebook accounts (n = 42) than Instagram accounts (n = 23) or Twitter accounts (n = 22).

Conclusion: SoMe use amongst neurosurgical societies and departments in Europe is very limited. From our perspective, explanations are lacking for the correlated numbers to the market shares of SoMe in the respective countries. Further research, including a survey, to follow up on this important topic should be undertaken among EANS members.

Keywords: Facebook; Followers; Instagram; LinkedIn; Public engagement; Social media (SoMe); Twitter; YouTube.

MeSH terms

Europe
Germany
Humans
Neurosurgeons
Neurosurgery*
Social Media*