Introduction: Social media is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in the professional realm. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic accelerated the shift towards utilizing social media to network and disseminate information, especially via Twitter. Neurosurgery programs have also leveraged Twitter to inform and attract applicants.
Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify factors influencing the adoption of Twitter by matched neurosurgery applicants before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A list of matched U.S. neurosurgery residents from just before the start of the pandemic (2019-2020) to after the peak of the pandemic (2021-2022), was collated. Twitter was searched to evaluate the presence of a professional account at the time of Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) submission. The following demographic variables were collected: gender, medical school, and matched residency institution.
Results: Over four application cycles (2019-2022), 897 matched residents were evaluated in the study. Overall, 31.1% had a Twitter account during the time of their residency application. In particular, international medical school graduates were more likely to have a Twitter platform compared to U.S. applicants (50.0% vs. 29.7%; p=.001). The percentage of matched neurosurgery applicants with a Twitter profile significantly increased during the pandemic (21.0% vs. 41.1%; p<.001) with a two-fold increase from 20.0% to 39.7% (p<.001) in U.S. applicants.
Conclusion: Over the past four years, an increasing number of matched neurosurgery applicants have adopted a Twitter presence during application. Driven by the increasing use of social media and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter has become an important tool leveraged by during the application process.
Keywords: covid-19; match; residency; social media; twitter.
Copyright © 2023, Sciscent et al.