So, how long have you been on Twitter? It’s a question I field often, at bioethics conferences and events, both on-line and in person. Or, as we say on Twitter; IRL, for in real life.
The answer is since January 2012, over 3 years ago now. My impetus to join stemmed from a friend with whom I’d studied bioethics. He knew that I was already blogging about bioethics, and that there didn’t seem to be many individuals in our field who were using social media. Back then, the question I most often had to answer about my on-line activities was: What’s a blob?
My friend was already on Twitter, and told me that he’d found a small on-line community there – of other folks with interests in biomedical ethics. I jumped right in, and have tremendously enjoyed participating in conversations – called tweetchats or Twitter chats – on a regular basis.
A tweetchat is an on-line meeting, held at a specific date and time; frequency can be one-time, weekly, or monthly and they tend to last 30 to 60 minutes. The leader of a chat is called a moderator, and there are sometimes more than one moderator for a chat.
Tweetchats are public, and everyone who wants to join in simply uses the same hashtag (a word or phrase following the # symbol, e.g. #bioethx) whenever they post a message relating to that chat. They’ll also follow/read the tweets being posted to that hashtag during the chat. Each Twitter chat is an on-line conversation, with a truly global reach.
A common format is to have 3 or 4 questions for each chat, generally made available – in advance – on a blog or website. A 1-hour chat may attribute 15 minutes to each of 4 questions, while a 30-minute chat may have 3 questions with 10 minutes devoted to each.
If you’re thinking of joining a tweetchat, the concept of ‘lurking’ on Twitter might be useful. That means following the chat once or twice, prior to participating. This provides an opportunity to verify, for that specific chat:
- What type of content is being tweeted (including any links to reference websites/articles embedded within participants’ tweets)
- Who’s participating (i.e. if it’s a healthcare chat involving both clinicians and patients, it’s best to avoid clinical terms)
- Whether there are any comments you’re not comfortable with (e.g. political viewpoints)
One of my favorite chats is #bioethx, on Monday evenings. The moderator is a medical student who’s passionate about bioethics; she founded this tweetchat in 2013.
This year, to mark International Women’s Day, she created a photo collage of the women who’re the most engaged participants in these weekly #bioethx chats. I was pleasantly surprised to see my photo there, as my roles in bioethics haven’t been in academia – nor have I published papers in peer-reviewed journals.
But I do work in bioethics, and am passionate about our field; particularly patients’ rights – including appropriate protection of identifiable medical information, healthcare policy, and veterans’ health issues (as a former Air Force Reserve officer).
One of the joys of these chats is that they democratize conversations involving bioethics. There are often patients participating, which is something I haven’t seen anywhere else in bioethics. Which seems odd to me, given that patients are the reasons for which bioethics and healthcare as a whole… exist!
Another is the global reach of these chats, no matter the topic. I’ve connected with folks from around the globe through different chats; Australia, England, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Scotland… without the cost (or environmental impact) of travelling to a conference or scientific meeting!
For my own tips on using Twitter, read How to “tweet” bioethics.
As always, thank you for reading!