2024 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Casey Albin¹, Gabriela Pucci², Aaron Zelikovich³, Eric Lawson⁴, Tianwen Ma⁵, Aarti Sarwal⁶, Neha Dangayach⁷, Aaron Berkowitz⁸, Nicholas Morris⁹, Lyell Jones¹⁰
¹Emory Healthcare, ²University of Pittsburg, ³Weill Cornell / NewYork-Presbyterian, ⁴Emory University School of Medicine, ⁵Emory University, ⁶Medical Center Blvd, ⁷Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Hospital, ⁸University of California San Francisco, ⁹University of Maryland Medical Center, ¹⁰Mayo Clinic

Objective:

What makes certain neurology-themed tweetorials widely shared is unknown.

Background:

Social media platforms like Twitter (X) are an increasingly utilized for medical education.

Design/Methods:

Tweetorials were identified by searching “tweetorial” AND “Neurology or Neuro” on X. We created and validated a formula to determine the tweetorial “Impact Factor” (IF) that reflects retweets and likes to facilitate comparisons. Tweet and author characteristics were collected directly from the platform and internet search of academic profiles. We thematically analyzed each tweetorial to determine if it was “generalized” (topic relevant to all neurologists), “inclusive” (had utility to medical students or non-neurologist), and “clear” (topic stated in the first tweet). The first tweet’s style was categorized as “humorous,” “creative,” “mystery case,” “question,” or “statement.” Generalized Estimating Equation was applied to account for author effects.

Results:

We identified 392 neurology-related tweetorials posted between November 2018 and December 2022 by 96 unique authors. Neurologists and assistant professors were the most frequent author type (62%, 59/96 and 23%, 22/96). Timing of the post did not correlate with IF. Median Tweetorial length was 13 (IQR 9-19). The median “likes” and “retweets” for the first tweet of the thread was 101 and 31 respectively (IQR 37-275 and 11-77). Median IF was 28.5 (IQR 12.7-61.5). Tweets with generalizability, inclusion, and clarity had 36%, 27%, and 52% higher IF than those without (p<.001, 0.03, and <.001, 95% CI: [7%, 73%], [3%, 57%], and [15%, 101%]), respectively. Creative first tweets had 60% higher IF than statement counterparts (p=0.01,95% CI: [13%, 125%]). First tweets with unique hashtags and author-made graphics had 49% and 84% higher IF than those without (p<.001 and <.001, 95% CI: [16%, 92%] and [30%, 164%]), respectively.

Conclusions:

Tweetorials with topic clarity and utility to a broad audience have the highest impact, findings that may help educators maximize reach for online education material.