‘An extension of one’s resume’
Friedman says the study began when he contacted the lead author of a similar published paper that looked at Twitter use by attendings, doctors, and residents, but not medical students.
Using a similar approach to the other study, researchers led by Friedman sought input from urology applicants to evaluate Twitter usage during the 2021 application cycle.
A mixed methods approach was used, consisting of three components: Twitter metrics data; an online survey; and phone interviews.
Several stories began to emerge.
One of them, says Friedman, was the increase in Twitter use. Per the study, 24% of applicants in urology created a Twitter account prior to the announcement of the pandemic. By Match Day, the proportion increased to about 51%.
The study also noted a correlation between Twitter use and urology applicants who matched successfully.
“While the proportion of both matched, and unmatched students with Twitter accounts increased after the COVID-19 pandemic announcement, nearly double the proportion of matched students (59%) were on Twitter by Match Day compared to unmatched students,” the study states.
Other stories surfaced.
For example, students reported increasingly relying on tools like Twitter to build their own personal brands centered on urology
“Matched students were more likely to include bio details related to urology interests, their class status, and tweets and/or retweets about urology residency,” says the study, which also notes a benefit to self-branding as “an extension of one’s resume.”
Friedman says students also reported awareness of the fact that residency programs were promoting events and updating deadlines more frequently via their social media feeds — oftentimes well before information was updated on websites and/or other sources.
Concurrently, respondents did report some concerns with regard to Twitter usage.
The study found that most students “rarely felt comfortable tweeting and/or retweeting about racial, political, and diversity issues.” Another concern was feelings or pressure to “continuously monitor Twitter, to the detriment of other activities.”
Still, the concerns didn’t alter the fact that, according to the study, “Twitter certainly played an important role in the first virtual application cycle for urology residency (and) may continue to be significant for future virtual application cycles.”
By publishing the study, Friedman and Asantey hope others in the field of urology see the benefits of being on Twitter.
“I hope people look at the study and recognize there’s a lot of information out there for urology applicants on Twitter, and other students in the past have found it super useful,” says Asantey.
Friedman says he hopes the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the study allow people to make the best decisions.
“We’re telling a story…not making a definitive statement like, ‘This is the way it has to be,’” says Friedman. “We hope that after reading this, people can make informed decisions about what’s best for them.”