More than five years after founder Jack Dorsey sent the very first “Tweet,” Twitter has exploded into a social media behemoth. Today, billions of real-time Tweets are sent each year about all manner of subjects – including healthcare. But how in the world do you keep up with all of them?
That’s exactly the conundrum that the Healthcare Hashtag Project set out to tackle. By creating a database of relevant hashtags to follow, they aim to “lower the learning curve of Twitter” and make it “more accessible for providers and the healthcare community as a whole.” Ultimately, they hope this will help those interested in healthcare “find the conversations that are of interest and importance.”
To dip your toes into this geyser of information, check out the project’s up-to-date lists of healthcare hashtags (a topic categorization that begins with “#”), Tweet chats (where a group of people Tweet back and forth at a designated time), conferences and diseases. Not only can you discover where the interesting conversations are taking place, but you can find out who to follow within your disease area and see what’s happening at related healthcare and scientific conferences.
Oh, and don’t forget that PatientsLikeMe is on Twitter too. Follow us today!
Thanks so much for featuring the Healthcare Hashtag Project! Recently, we’ve been adding features specifically for patients trying to navigate the jungle of healthcare social media.
A new section, Disease Hashtags, has been added where people with chronic illnesses, rare diseases, cancer, etc. can find and connect with likeminded people and thought leaders on these subjects.
We try to make it easier to discover where and who is part of the healthcare discussions.
Example:
http://www.symplur.com/topic/breast-cancer/
Hope this can be of some complementary value for PatientsLikeMe members!
@audvin