Social media sites like Twitter have the potential to enhance education, awareness and overall management of cardiovascular disease. [Image: Flickr/MDGovpics, used under the Creative Commons licence]
Real-time social phenomenon, Twitter, can be a powerful tool to help prevent heart disease and improve health practices, according to a group of researchers affiliated with the University of Sydney. Their study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology , surveying 15 international health-focused Twitter accounts, nine professional organisations and six medical journals, were selected for analysis of their Twitter growth, reach, and content. The study showed that, through its inherent networking, social media sites like Twitter have the potential to enhance education, awareness and overall management of cardiovascular disease. Lead author, Associate Professor Julie Redfern , of The George Institute for Global Health , said the researchers examined the reach of health-related Tweets via the re-tweeting trend. "The popularity and rise of Twitter has made it a readily available, free, and user-friendly tool to disseminate information rapidly to a diverse audience, for example, to engage health professionals and heart attack survivors," she said. "In recent years, a growing number of health professionals have been using social media to share information. In a survey of 485 oncologists and physicians, 24 percent used social media at least daily to scan or explore medical information.
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