Social media to enhance engagement and science dissemination during in-person and virtual medical conferences: the SCMR 2020 and 2021 experiences: a report of the SCMR social media task force

Social media (SoMe) platforms have seen widespread adoption by the medical community and have changed the way many professional societies disseminate new science and information [1, 2]. The use of Twitter during medical conferences has gained significant traction secondary to the platform’s ability to reach a wide audience without geographic barriers, in real time and at the user’s convenience [1, 3‐5]. The scientific content is distilled into a ‘tweet’ (a microblog of 280 characters) or a thread (a series of tweets), which is then broadcast globally. Such SoMe campaigns have been shown to amplify the educational and research endeavors of conferences, and allow real-time participation of users [6]. The Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) is the largest association of experts in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). For the SCMR Scientific Sessions 2020 an effective social media strategy to engage CMR users worldwide was established. On the heels of SCMR 2020, the emergence of coronovirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic heralded a paradigm shift in the delivery and dissemination of medical knowledge. The tradition of physicians gathering in convention centers or hotels to educate, be educated and to network was paused. Apart from the scholarship, the appeal of such colloquiums was in the esprit de corps from which are born new academic collaborations, mentorships, research, and employment opportunities. In response to the pandemic, medical conferences that were not cancelled shifted to a virtual format. SCMR has placed a special focus on furthering the social media interactions and engagement to enhance the educational opportunities for CMR users worldwide.

The aim of this paper is to describe how a dedicated SoMe strategy enhances the experience at both in person and virtual conferences, using the examples of SCMR 2020 and 2021 annual scientific sessions.

Twitter activity was analyzed from the time of registration of the #SCMR2020 hashtag to 6 weeks from completion of the conference (1/1/2020-4/1/20) using the Symplur analytics platform to capture the extent and impact of SoMe activities using criteria that has been previously published [10].

Over the 3-month capture period, a total of 747 active Twitter users generated 4792 tweets (of which 70% were retweets) using the official #SCMR2020 hashtag, resulting in 13.6 million impressions. This represented a 55% increase in the total number of tweets compared to the 2019 meeting and a fourfold increase in the number of impressions (Fig. 6B). The growth in number of tweets occurred with only a modest increase in registration between SCMR 2019 and SCMR 2020. For SCMR 2020, there were 1571 active tweeters, which exceeded the total registered delegates. Users that generated an original tweet or retweeted represented 51.3% of the total registered delegates. The 1423 (69.7%) original tweets by 294 users accounted for 3.1 million (30.0%) of the all the impressions. In contrast, retweets (comprising 70.3% of the total tweets) from 600 users resulted in the remaining 70% of impressions. The tweets that could be localized based on the information in the user profile (64.3% of total) originated from 39 countries across five continents, indicating the international reach of the conference. The top tweeters by number of tweets, impressions, and mentions were recognized (Fig. 6A). A network analysis map, summarizing the activity of the top 100 tweeters, is depicted in Fig. 5C. Figure 6D demonstrates the breakdown of the tweeters by the type of influencer: tweeter, retweeter, or mentioned account. The largest category was those that were mentioned (675 accounts) followed closely by those that retweeted (602 accounts).

Once again, Twitter activity was analyzed from the time of registration of the #SCMR2021 hashtag to six weeks from completion of the conference using the Symplur analytics. Over the 3-month capture period, 4400 tweets were generated from 541 users across every continent, with 17 million impressions created, making #SCMR2021 the highest trending medical conference of its time, and a truly global event (Fig. 7).

One of the highlights of digital technology during the 2020 SCMR conference was the emphasis on social media, in 2021 it was centered around hosting an all-virtual conference, a first for the Society. Both years, social media played a key role in boosting engagement. In fact, healthcare professionals and organizations are increasingly engaging on Twitter given that there is no user fee, it is easy to use, it allows real-time interactions and it has a global reach. This has resulted in the widespread adoption of SoMe by most contemporary cardiology conferences [3, 6, 11, 12. An organized SoMe campaign is thus well suited to expand the reach beyond the physical conference without substantially expanding the budget. In addition to dissemination of science and knowledge, the sharing of group photos and healthy discussions build camaraderie and the community.

Social media has established itself as a powerful tool for the dissemination of knowledge, increase engagement at a scientific conference and for fostering a sense of community. It is thus an excellent auxiliary to the in-person and virtual medical conference experience and has been widely adopted by the cardiology community. SCMR integrated social media with its annual conferences starting in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic heralded a transformation in the delivery and dissemination of science. Medical conferences that were not cancelled evolved to a virtual model and social media played an even more important role in enhancing engagement and promoting learning as demonstrated by the social media metrics of SCMR 2021, the Society’s first virtual-only conference. With the upcoming virtual-only 2022 SCMR Annual Scientific Sessions, it is likely that social media will play an increasingly important role in knowledge dissemination and attendee engagement.

To demonstrate the exponential rise in popularity of SoMe over the past few years, during SCMR 2020, there were 4792 tweets representing a 55% increase in the total number of tweets compared to the 2019 meeting. This resulted in a fourfold increase in the number of impressions, to 13.6 million. SCMR 2021 generated 17 million Twitter impressions world-wide, with an increase of 3.9 million impressions from 2020 (Fig. 8). As this evolution continues, further research is warranted to better understand user preferences, engagement predilections and learning styles to enhance the attendee experience.