Only about 14 percent of health policy researchers use Twitter and only about 20 percent use blogs and Facebook to report their medical findings.
About sixty-five percent of these researchers use mediums such as press releases to get their findings out there, a University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine press release reported.
"Our study uncovered four central findings," lead author, David Grande, MD, MPA, assistant professor of Medicine at Penn Medicine, said in the news release. "First, most health policy researchers are not using social media to communicate their research results, which could be a significant missed opportunity to expose a larger audience to important health news and findings."
The researchers surveyed 215 health and health-policy researchers to make their findings.
The study showed that researchers often shy away from social media because they are worried about what their peers will think because social media sites are usually filled with "junk." They found the participants became more interested in using social media to promote their work when shown how the sites could be used effectively.
Many of the researchers thought they would be restricted by Twitter's 140-character limit and did not understand that links are commonly posted on the social media platform.
The team found that junior faculty members were more likely to use social media platforms than their senior peers.
"Historically, there has been a significant communication gap between researchers, on the one hand, and policy makers and the public at large, on the other," senior author Zachary Meisel, MD, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Penn, said in the news release. "Social media channels are promising tools for closing this gap, provided they are used appropriately and effectively. As a first step, medical schools and health care institutions should help to educate researchers on how to properly use these channels to circulate their research findings and discuss implications."
