#Ophthalmology: Popular ophthalmology hashtags as an educational source for ophthalmologists, an Instagram study

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to determine the content and intent of posts published under popular ophthalmology hashtags and to determine whether these posts were educational for ophthalmologists. Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional study design was used to evaluate the top public posts of five popular hashtags on three consecutive days by two ophthalmology specialists. The first 100 relevant English posts of each hashtag were studied. Selected hashtags were #Ophthalmology, #ophthalmosurgery, #ophthalmologyresident, #ophthalmologist, and #ophthalmicphotography. Posts were classified according to the type of post, post author, post intent, and whether the post was educational. Posts deemed educational were then categorized separately using the same classification system as above to determine whether there were defining characteristics of educational posts. Results: One thousand posts were recorded and analyzed and a total of 500 posts were included in the study. The majority of posts 79.8% ( n = 399), were by medical doctors with 95% ( n = 379) being ophthalmology specialists. Sixty-three percent of posts ( n = 315) were deemed educational, 25% promotional ( n = 127), and 12% ( n = 58) were entertainment posts. Medical retina ( n = 119) and anterior segment ( n = 90) were the most common subspecialties explored. #ophthalmicphotography ( P = 0.001) was the hashtag with the highest number of educational posts ( n = 91). The least educational hashtag was #ophthalmologist with only 44% of posts ( n = 44) that were deemed to be educational. One hundred percent of glaucoma posts ( n = 19), 98% of cornea posts ( n = 41), and 99% of medical retina posts ( n = 118) were found to be educational which was significantly more educational than the other topics posted ( P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: Ophthalmologists are the main authors of posts in popular ophthalmology hashtags. The majority of posts were educational posts with promotional posts being the second most common intent. The authors conclude that while Instagram is a possible source of ancillary education for the visual specialty of ophthalmology, careful selection of hashtags and post authors are needed for maximum benefit.

Performance of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots on Glaucoma Questions Adapted From Patient Brochures

“…While ophthalmologists are conventionally a source of patient education, curious patients can be inundated by online medical information in the form of thousands of websites and social media platforms. An estimated 43% of glaucoma patients utilize the Internet for medical information, with varied evaluations of the quality, benefits, and harms of information from online resources [3][4][5][6][7].…”

Social media

“…Catchy hashtags on Facebook and Instagram make the search easier, as established by Tıskaoğlu et al . [ 3 ] On our handles, fun elements such as #QuizupMonday makes us think, read, reciprocate while ingenious ideas and innovations are nurtured via #InnovationTuesday, and recent advances through publications are shared as #AwarenessWednesday. #ThrowbackThursday cherishes old alumni and esteemed guests while sustainable practices reducing the carbon footprint in a high-volume hospital like ours are portrayed via #ForesightFriday.…”

Commentary: Impact of social media applications like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube on ophthalmological education

“…The authors’ current Instagram study[ 8 ] is a unique endeavor to assess the impact of social media on ophthalmic education, and the authors must be congratulated for bringing out this crisp analysis. The unique thing about this cross-sectional analysis was that a large database was analyzed only in a brief period of three days.…”