By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    photo of hands with blue veins
    8 Proven Tips on Finding Difficult Veins
    November 12, 2021
    tips for getting over the pandemic blues
    4 Proven Ways to Get Over the Pandemic Blues
    February 22, 2022
    medical industry innovations
    How is CNC Machining Transforming the Medical Industry?
    June 2, 2022
    Latest News
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
    Choosing the Right Supplement Manufacturer for Your Brand
    May 1, 2025
    Engineering Temporary Hospitals for Extreme Weather
    April 24, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Doctors on Google: Manhattan Research Survey 2012
    July 23, 2012
    HealthCare’s Need for Transparency Goes Far Beyond Pricing
    December 10, 2012
    Medicare Payments to Providers Are Carved, Sliced and Chopped by Sequestration
    March 25, 2013
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Should Your Doctor Be Following You On Twitter?
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Social Media > Should Your Doctor Be Following You On Twitter?
Social MediaWellness

Should Your Doctor Be Following You On Twitter?

JosephKvedar
Last updated: November 6, 2012 9:11 am
JosephKvedar
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

What a silly question. What doctor has time to follow patients on Twitter? Besides, healthcare is serious business and Twitter is mostly about frivolity, right?  Not so fast, let’s think about it.

Do you think the content of your Tweets is a reflection of your general state of health?

What a silly question. What doctor has time to follow patients on Twitter? Besides, healthcare is serious business and Twitter is mostly about frivolity, right?  Not so fast, let’s think about it.

Do you think the content of your Tweets is a reflection of your general state of health?

More Read

Dietary Supplements: Give Your Health an Extra Boost
Are Dairy Products Good or Bad? Exhaustive Review
Beyond the Buzz: 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up Healthcare Social Media
Kinds Of Foods That Can Make You Lose Weight
Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter is Keynote for #HIMSS12

I was thinking the other day about when my son was away at college. He went to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, so we only saw him a couple of times a year.  We really looked forward to a weekly phone call and communicated frequently by email.  He graduated in 2011.  I now have two daughters in college, also far away, and though we chat frequently (by Skype or FaceTime, interestingly), I don’t feel the same pining that I felt when Derek was away because I follow both of my daughters on Twitter.  Their Tweets (several daily) are mostly thoughts that pop into their heads, so it gives me a great window into what they’re thinking and what is going on in their lives, almost in the moment.

I recently became intrigued with free text analysis as a tool to learn more about an individual’s health.  Tools like Wordle and Mirror.me are among the many that enable you to create interesting graphics of text.  The words that are mentioned more frequently in any block of text are featured more prominently in the graphic.  A glance at the graphic gives you a sense of what the writer feels is important, what is on her mind, or even a quirk in her writing style (if certain phrases are emphasized, for instance).

I’m intrigued because of my belief that analyses like this are probably a more accurate barometer of someone’s health than what we’d learn if we asked anyone of us a series of questions.  We want to look good for others and we tend to report ourselves as being healthier than we are.  This phenomenon is well studied and referred to as Social Desirability Bias.  Interestingly, this also applies to religion, as I learned from this recent NPR story.  I am guessing that what we write on Twitter can give some sense of what is going on beneath this veneer.

Am I onto something?  Well, you tell me.

Here is one example, created on Mirror.me by entering @sixuntilme, the Twitter handle of a woman who blogs about her life with diabetes.

The prominent words reveal what this person focuses on and indeed diabetes and health are prominent.

So far, so good.

Here is one from my daughter Julie @julie_taboule.

She mentions vegan a lot as that is a big part of her life. Likewise for Vanderbilt, her school.  It is interesting that ‘heal’ is prominent – she is a healing person.

Contrast my other daughter Megan’s (@mkvedar) word cloud.

Words like finance and entrepreneur belie her interest in business.  It is curious that Olympic is so prominent, but I’m guessing that is because she was Tweeting a lot during the Olympics.

I’m happy to say that neither of my daughters is unhealthy or unhappy so in this very early experiment, you could call them ‘positive controls.’

Just to be a fair dad, I’ll note that my son Derek Tweets too (@tribecallederek), but his Tweets are too infrequent for Mirror.me to build a word cloud on him.

Try it yourself and send me word clouds that illuminate real-life thoughts, patterns and behaviors.

I’m intrigued enough to continue to pursue it. When we’re going about our daily lives, messaging about what we’re thinking or doing in-the-moment, these Tweets can provide a more accurate picture and far more information of a person’s state than a series of routine questions. Hence, I believe Tweets and other social media postings can provide a window into an individual’s health and wellness.

Of course this could be applied to SMS text messages too.  They are harder to get your hands on. I’m in contact with colleagues at AT&T to see if I can get access to mine.  To get a sense of the power of analyzing text messages, see this short TED talk by Nancy Lublin.

So, based on this early analysis, I’m inclined to think that yes, your doctor should follow you.  Not in the sense that she will be waiting for your Tweets to come up on her iPhone, but rather in this more analytic sense.  My hypothesis is that Twitter feeds and text messages will enable us to get a window into your soul.

And what is more important when following your health than that?

 

TAGGED:twitter
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Clinical Expertise
Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
Health care
May 18, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Health
May 15, 2025
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Health
May 15, 2025
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction heart treatment
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction
Cardiology
May 13, 2025

You Might also Like

Disney Institute
BusinessHospital AdministrationWellness

Patient Satisfaction Delivered the Disney Way

March 3, 2016
Image
Social Media

What Healthcare Marketers Need To Know About Pinterest’s Revised Terms of Service

April 6, 2012
doctor reputation management
eHealthSocial Media

Getting It Right: More Physician Reputation Management Rules [Part 2]

May 25, 2014
Health Report card
Wellness

The Healthcare Elephant

October 7, 2012
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?