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© 2022 The Authors. Société Internationale d'Urologie Journal, published by the Société Internationale d'Urologie, Canada.

81SIUJ.ORG SIUJ  •  Volume 4, Number 2  •  March 2023

EDITORIAL

The Emerging Role of Social Media in Urology Practice
Jeremy Yuen-Chun Teoh

Social Media Editor, SIUJ

Philippe E. Spiess

Deputy Editor, SIUJ
Director of Publications and ICUD Initiatives, Société Internationale d’Urologie

Soc Int Urol J.2023;4(2):81–83 
DOI: 10.48083/NATN6247

In this modern era, social media has become an integral and inevitable part of our daily lives. It allows effective 
dissemination of knowledge and rapid communication across our global community. While social media certainly 
has its pitfalls, we can learn to use it effectively in our urological practice.

This special issue on “Social Media in Urology Made Easy” is dedicated to providing comprehensive and important 
information regarding the utility of social media and its potential implications in the future.

Twitter appears to be the preferred social media platform for knowledge dissemination among health care 
professionals. In the study by Dr Spencer Bell et al., the authors report the results of a social media network analysis 
on Twitter and note that there was a steady increase in Twitter representation among academic urologists[1]. Urologic 
oncology represents the largest cohort, but andrology and reconstructive urology represent the highest proportion of 
their respective subspecialties. This study provides important insight into the constitution of the target audience on 
this social media platform.

Apart from medical professionals, it is also important to understand whether social media platforms have 
a significant influence among medical students globally. The study by Dr Rachel Kaufman et al. investigated the 
degree of reach and engagement across various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and 
TikTok[2]. The authors found that Twitter allows for engagement with a statistically significantly large proportion of 
medical students, and TikTok allows access to a numerically larger audience of medical students. This study provides 
information regarding the reach of urology on social media, which will be very helpful for effective education and 
information dissemination across undergraduate and post-graduate residency programs.

“Likes” is perhaps one of the most well-known metrics in determining how engaging one post or tweet is. However, 
apart from showing how trendy a post or tweet is, does it actually carry any important implications? In their paper, 
Dr Justin Loloi et al. discuss the various effects of social media usage in terms of branding, education, networking, 
research, and enhanced recruitment efforts[3]. The authors also provide guidance for engaging in social media as a 
medical professional, and summarize the important principles regarding appropriate use of social media.

The importance of social media engagement has been increasingly recognized by urology journals, but how social 
media presence correlates with traditional journal metrics such as Scimago Journal & Country Rank, h-index, and 
Scopus CiteScore, is largely unknown[4-6]. In a study of traditional and social media metrics, Dr Wei Zheng So 
and colleagues found that 54.2% of all urology journals had at least one form of social medial presence[7]. Urology 
journals with social media presence had significantly higher traditional metric values than journals without social 
media presence. The study shows that urology journals can disseminate the findings of research studies effectively to 
the urological community via the social media platforms, and this in turn will improve citations in the long run.

Social media platforms are also increasingly used by urological societies. In the paper by Dr Nikita Bhatt et al., 
The European Association of Urology Guideline Dissemination Committee discusses the novel methods of social 
media dissemination, the importance of maintaining quality, ethics, and reliability in social media, and how societies 
can play an active role in this[8]. This paper provides important guidance on how societies can engage medical 
professionals and disseminate useful information to the urology community more effectively. The authors also 
highlight the importance of having an authoritative guideline on the use of social media.

http://SIUJ.org
mailto:jeremyteoh%40surgery.cuhk.edu.hk?subject=SIUJ
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82 SIUJ  •  Volume 4, Number 2  •  March 2023 SIUJ.ORG

EDITORIAL

Social media may also play a role in research work, 
such as cross-sectional surveys. Conventionally, emails 
are often used to disseminate surveys. In this modern 
era, there is increasing use of social media platforms 
in survey dissemination. In their review paper, Dr 
William Ong et al. discuss tips and pitfalls in using 
social media platforms for survey dissemination[9]. 
The main advantages of social media-based surveys 
include convenience and f lexibility of survey design, 
relatively low cost, anonymity of responders, and the 
ability to reach a broader population across geographical 
boundaries; however, cautious measures must be 
adopted to avoid data duplication, disruption, and 
inaccuracy.

Crowdsource funding to obtain financial support 
for a project through public engagement is now 
widely used, and it may carry important implications 
in our field as well. Dr Kevin Byrnes et al. discuss 
the concept of crowdfunding and the practicality of 
such applications, and describe the characteristics of 
successful campaigns[10]. Apart from seeking funding 
opportunities, the concept of crowdsourcing can also 
be used in research projects to improve site engagement, 
disseminate research findings, and network with 
collaborators. Certainly, the use of social media has 
major benefits in conducting research work from a 
global perspective.

Last but not least, we must be aware of the potential 
harm and concerns relating to social media. Social 
media misinformation is a genuine problem across 

various urological conditions, and the study by  
Dr Chaoyong Wang et al. showed that pelvic organ 
prolapse is no exception[11]. As pointed out by Dr 
Brian Stork, we as urologists should refute inaccurate 
information when we see it, share medically correct 
information, and incorporate new technology into 
our practices[12]. For example, the Urolog y Care 
Foundation has created condition-specific, QR-coded 
educational materials that can be readily accessed 
w it h sma r t phones[13]. We must sta nd aga i nst 
medical misinformation and make an effort to ensure 
dissemination of accurate information to our patients 
and the general public.

This special issue provides comprehensive coverage 
across various aspects of social media, and we hope the 
information will be useful for our readers. SIU Journal 
also embraces the utility of social media, and we 
actively use our Twitter account (@SIU_urology) to 
disseminate the findings of the published papers to our 
audience. Currently, we have over 1000 followers on 
the Twitter platform, and we would like to solicit your 
help in driving our social media platforms. The SIUJ 
is a platinum open access journal, so the full text of all 
published articles can be viewed or downloaded without 
cost. Please consider submitting your research papers 
to our journal, and we will ensure that your work is 
disseminated effectively to the urology community.

http://SIUJ.org
http://SIUJ.org
https://twitter.com/SIU_urology


83SIUJ.ORG SIUJ  •  Volume 4, Number 2  •  March 2023

The Emerging Role of Social Media in Urology Practice

References

1. Bell SH, Sun C, Helstrom E, Dubin JM, Isali I, Mishra K, et al. Social 
media network analysis of academic urologists’ interaction within 
Twitter microblogging environment. Soc Int Urol J.2023;4(2):96–104. 
doi: 10.48083/ TKEK6928

2. Kaufman RE, Snipes M, Wallace C, Terris M. Urology reach on social 
media: appealing to future potential applicants. Soc Int Urol J. 
2023;4(2):112–116. doi: 10.48083/JKKQ6501

3. Loloi J, Bernstein AP, Dubin JM. “Likes” in social media: does 
it carr y any implications? Soc Int Urol J.2023;4(2):105 –111. doi: 
10.48083/KTOL8925

4. Scimago. Available at: https://w w w.scimagojr.com/. Accessed 
March 6, 2023.

5. Clarivate. Web of Science: h-index information. h-index. Available at: 
https://support.clarivate.com/ScientificandAcademicResearch/s/
ar ticle/ Web-of-Science-h-index-information?language= en_US. 
Accessed March 6, 2023.

6. Elsevier. The CiteScore™ metrics advantage. Available at: https://
www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/metrics/
citescore. Accessed March 6, 2023.

7. So WZ, Tiong HY, Gauhar V, Castellani D, Teoh JYC. Social media 
engagement for urology journals — a correlation analysis of 
traditional and social media metrics. Soc Int Urol J.2023;4(2):88–95. 
doi: 10.48083/DMPR4183

8. Bhat t NR, Teoh JYC, Cucchiara V, Garcia Rojo E, Mercader C, 
Pradere B, et al. Novel methods of social media dissemination in 
urology. Soc Int Urol J.2023;4(2):136–138. doi: 10.48083/RBAZ4307

9. Ong WLK, Gauhar V, Castellani D, Teoh Y TC. Tips and pitfalls in 
using social media platforms for survey dissemination. Soc Int Urol J. 
2023;4(2):118–124. doi: 10.48083/PERG3137

10. Byrnes K, Asif A, Ng A, Khadhouri S, Bhatt N, Kasivisvanathan V. 
Crowdsource funding via social media platforms. Soc Int Urol J. 
2023;4(2):127–129. doi: 10.48083/RVJX1845

11. Wang C, Kang J, Gerard E, Loeb S, Malik RD. Harm related to 
social media misinformation on pelvic organ prolapse in YouTube, 
Instagram, and Pinterest Posts. Soc Int Urol J.2023;4(2):131–135. 
doi: 10.48083/PGWG4918

12. S tor k B R. T he influenc e of so cial me dial influenc er s on 
urology information: where are all the urologists? Soc Int Urol 
J.2023;4(2):125–126. doi: 10.48083/NGTO5760

13. Urology Care Foundation. Available at: https://www.urologyhealth.org. 
Accessed March 6, 2023.

http://SIUJ.org
https://www.scimagojr.com/
https://support.clarivate.com/ScientificandAcademicResearch/s/article/Web-of-Science-h-index-information?language=en_US
https://support.clarivate.com/ScientificandAcademicResearch/s/article/Web-of-Science-h-index-information?language=en_US
https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/metrics/citescore
https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/metrics/citescore
https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/metrics/citescore
https://www.urologyhealth.org



