Best Practice in Using Social Media: The European Association of Urology Position Statement

Section snippets

General principles for SoMe use

There are ten general principles that urologists should follow when using SoMe platforms (Fig. 1) [1]. Physicians should clearly state their role and align their online behavior with professional standards. It is essential to protect patient privacy by avoiding identifiable information and discussing treatment details only with explicit consent. To prevent misinterpretation, medical advice should not be given publicly on SoMe. Instead, patients should be directed to formal consultations or

Goals and benefits of SoMe

Optimization of the use of SoMe in urology requires a clear understanding of the goals and benefits [3], [4]. Potential applications of SoMe are diverse, ranging from raising public awareness and providing education about urological diseases and their prevention, to organizing virtual and hybrid conferences to reach a broader audience, facilitating international networking, enhancing and disseminating collaborative research, and sharing resources for professional training and career

Measuring SoMe impact

SoMe analytics involves the collection and analysis of data from SoMe platforms to gauge the effectiveness of information dissemination (Fig. 1) [5]. “Impressions” measure how often a post is displayed, “reach” counts how many unique users see a post, and “engagement” tracks total interactions with a post. The Altmetric Attention Score is a newer metric that evaluates the media presence of an article by aggregating mentions across various SoMe platforms and news outlets. These metrics can be

Combating misinformation on SoMe

Studies have shown a high prevalence of misinformation in urology content on SoMe platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. A study revealed that 98% of 55 TikTok videos with the hashtag #prostatecancer, despite having 134 944 individual views, were of moderate to poor quality, with 47% containing misinformation and 10.9% showing commercial bias [6]. It is thus crucial to produce and disseminate accurate information via appropriate channels, such as the EAU Patient Information portal and the

Future directions

Novel methods of SoMe dissemination should be used, including audiovisual content on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, and remote educational options on Twitch and Caffeine [9]. SoMe interventions are a novel application of SoMe that can enhance health behaviors and patient engagement via platforms such as Facebook and TikTok. Efforts should be made to standardize these interventions to enhance their credibility and effectiveness, while still ensuring a personalized multidisciplinary approach