Social media (SM) can be harnessed to benefit NP professional development, clinical education, and networking. A professional SM account can highlight interests and achievements, such as volunteer efforts, degrees, and awards. This sharing often results in feedback from online peers and organizations. SM is now so influential that its use is usually acknowledged as an essential contribution to faculty applications for appointment, promotion, and tenure.1 Studies show that SM can significantly amplify the impact of NP scholarship.2 This guest editorial aims to highlight ways SM can be used for NP professional development and to provide ground rules for responsible online engagement.

BENEFITS OF PROFESSIONAL SM ACCOUNTS Free open access medical education (FOAMed)

SM hosts globally accessible, crowd-sourced educational content that can augment NPs' formal education. This content often follows microlearning principles in which adult learners interact with small chunks of self-contained information that can be applied immediately to clinical practice. Search the hashtag #FOAMed on any SM platform to find this content, and pay close attention to accuracy and quality indicators.

Enhance the conference experience

SM has become a common feature of academic conferences, used by organizers to provide information, engage attendees, and create social connections. Follow the organization's handle or an engaging presenter's SM account at your next conference. Hashtags can facilitate the engagement of those not attending the meeting.

Keep up with the evidence

Journals and professional organizations share their policy statements, breaking news, and announcements on SM. By following these organizations on a given SM platform, you may learn of information via SM posts before finding it in an email or hearing it from a colleague. Additionally, you can rapidly consume timely research and guidelines shared by authors, investigators, and organizations you follow.

Advocate for your passions

Amplify the advocacy messages that are important to you. Whether your passion is seeking full-practice authority for NPs, ending gun violence, or addressing maternal mortality, SM is a powerful tool to use in spreading your message.

Microlearning

SM provides the perfect platform for the dissemination of microlearning: education delivered in short bursts that requires little effort in an individual session and involves simple and/or narrow topics.3 SM also provides opportunity for active engagement using audio, visual, written, or combination modalities for teaching.

Build your virtual network

SM reaches a diverse, global audience. This offers a unique opportunity to increase professional networks and expand the dissemination of NP scholarship. NPs can connect with colleagues, share insights, and engage in discussion with healthcare professionals worldwide, supporting collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Increase the impact of your scholarship

Developing a post regarding your publication, podcast, or presentation can increase the influence of your work. Be sure to monitor metrics for your various pieces of scholarship (for example, citations and other data for published articles and alternative metrics such as impressions, engagement, and shares for podcasts on SM) to report them on a résumé. Keep in mind that articles with visual abstracts generally garner more interaction than those without.4

GUIDANCE FOR PROFESSIONAL SM ACCOUNTS

Although professional collaboration is flourishing on SM platforms, there are still challenges to navigate. SM has raised concerns about liability, privacy, and litigation across the spectrum of healthcare providers, and NPs should be cautious to avoid pitfalls by adhering to the following guidelines.

Do not offer medical advice or violate HIPAA

Patients and NPs alike use SM. A powerful presence of patients seeks online sources to acquire healthcare information and “second opinions.” In this endeavor, patients could encounter SM posts that they perceive as unprofessional, decreasing confidence in the healthcare system. In response to these concerns, the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association have incorporated SM use into their ethical guideline statements.5,6 Liability questions have prompted professionals to include disclaimers in their profiles stating that the views expressed by the account are personal and do not reflect those of their employer. Remember, even if you are not using any of the protected informational elements, presenting a story that allows the SM consumer to identify the patient or situation is a violation of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) law.

Heed quality indicators to avoid misinformation

Misinformation spread via the internet negatively impacts patients and clinicians alike. Conditions on SM, including rapid posting and immediate access to posts (often without information monitoring or verification), allow misinformation to spread widely without detection.7 Posts comprised of personal opinion should not be relied on for practice. Accuracy and quality indicators include citations, disclosures, and author expertise.

Additionally, the brief and simple nature of microlearning is not ideal for complex, multidimensional topics, such as much of nursing content. Although positive, low-level data are available on microlearning's retention and accessibility, higher-level outcomes have not been reported.8

Know your institution's SM policies

Ultimately, you are bound by the policies of your employer. Take the time to become familiar with your organization's SM policies.

Press pause before pressing send

As in all things, use emotional and cultural intelligence when posting on SM. Review every post to ensure you have cited and disclosed information as necessary. Do not post on SM while emotional, and do not engage with bullies or “trolls.” Professional posts must remain collegial and unbiased.

Set boundaries as needed

SM can lead to impulsive scrolling, loneliness, and addiction.9 Manage the settings on your accounts for notifications and set them judiciously to maintain your focus or use a timer tool on your phone to alert you to screen time.

CONCLUSION

We implore professional organizations and academic institutions to train NPs thoughtfully on the productive and responsible use of SM. Only when we are prepared can we harness the power of SM to enhance our practice, advocacy, education, research, and leadership.

REFERENCES 1. Cabrera D, Vartabedian BS, Spinner RJ, Jordan BL, Aase LA, Timimi FK. More than likes and tweets: creating social media portfolios for academic promotion and tenure. J Grad Med Educ. 2017;9(4):421–425. 2. Luc JGY, Archer MA, Arora RC, et al. Does tweeting improve citations? One-year results from the TSSMN prospective randomized trial. Ann Thorac Surg. 2020;111(1):296–300. 3. Hueckel R, Tallent S, Sebbens D, Espinoza E, Brown A-M. Expanding nurse practitioner educational boundaries: social media for a journal club. J Nurse Pract. 2023;19(4). 4. Ibrahim AM, Lillemoe KD, Klingensmith ME, Dimick JB. Visual abstracts to disseminate research on social media: a prospective, case-control crossover study. Ann Surg. 2017;266(6):e46–e48. 5. Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements. American Nurses Association; 2015. 6. Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. The AMA Code of Medical Ethics. 7. Edwards S, Roland D. Learning from mistakes on social media. Emerg Med J. 2019;36(8):453–455. 8. De Gagne JC, Park HK, Hall K, Woodward A, Yamane S, Kim SS. Microlearning in health professions education: scoping review. JMIR Med Educ. 2019;5(2):e13997. 9. Maftei A, Măirean C. Put your phone down! Perceived phubbing, life satisfaction, and psychological distress: the mediating role of loneliness. BMC Psychol. 2023;11(1):332.