Social Media in Shoulder & Elbow Surgery: An Analysis of Twitter and Instagram.

Social media provide a unique method of analyzing outcomes and quality in medicine. The purpose of this observational study was to investigate the nature of social media content related to shoulder and elbow (S&E) surgery posted by patients, surgeons, and hospitals. A public search of Instagram for a twoyear period yielded 1,177 patient-related posts. A categorical system assessed the perspective, timing, tone, and content of each post. Twitter accounts of 77 S&E specialists from the top five ranked U.S. News & World Report institutions were analyzed for activity and content. 5,246 Twitter and Instagram posts for the institutions were analyzed for frequency and content. Most patient-related posts were by patients (68 %), postoperative (82 %), positive (87 %), and centered on return-toplay for Tommy John (34 %), surgical site for shoulder arthroplasty (52 %), and activities of daily living for rotator cuff repair (22 %). 37 % of surgeons had active accounts averaging 46 posts, 87 % of which were practice advertisements. Hospitals averaged 273 posts over the 2-year period, focusing on education (38 %) and community (18 %). S&E patients share outcomes on social media in a positive tone with proceduredependent emphases. Surgeons on social media use sites for practice augmentation. Hospitals often focused posts towards educating the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]