26.05.2014

New study reveals explosion of doctors on Twitter

A CREATION Press Release

London, March 26, 2014 — New research from Creation Healthcare has tracked the rise of healthcare professionals on Twitter to reveal the global location of more than 75,000 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and consultants now using the platform.

75,000 healthcare professionals located worldwide sharing information and discussing treatments

Data from the study, carried out using Creation Pinpoint, has been published online via a free tool that allows users to view the increase in healthcare professionals on Twitter in any country or city worldwide.  Creation Pinpoint identifies healthcare professionals based on their social network with each other and their publicly available profile information.

The data shows that eight years ago, when Twitter began, just 23 healthcare professionals were signed up to the platform.  The first three recognised by Creation Pinpoint® were based in Scotland, the USA and Canada.

Increasingly, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and consultants have not only recognised Twitter, but also forums, blogs and other social media as a way of sharing information, discussing treatments and medicines, as well as collaborating with peers around the world.

The biggest percentage growth of healthcare professionals on Twitter came in 2008.  At the beginning of the year, fewer than 5,000 HCPs worldwide were using the platform.  By the end of that year, the figure stood at more than 27,000, an increase of over 500%.  The number joining has continued to grow to today’s figure of more than 75,000.

The USA is where the highest percentage of healthcare professionals who use Twitter are based (31%) – the UK is next with 9%.  The most common language used by healthcare professionals is English with 72% of HCPs using it in their public profiles.   Spanish is the preferred choice of 14% with Japanese the third most common language at 5%.

Creation Healthcare’s CEO, Daniel Ghinn said: “Public social media, including Twitter is changing the way that healthcare professionals are learning and collaborating professionally.  By using our  online tool, healthcare professionals and organisations can see the increase in doctors, nurses, pharmacists and consultants on Twitter since 2006 and what an amazingly powerful resource the platform is for understanding their views.”

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Notes to Editors:

Links:

The free tool can be seen at http://bit.ly/GlobalHCPs

Daniel Ghinn presents the data: http://bit.ly/HCPTw14

Research Data:

All statistics are based on data in Creation Pinpoint® which studies more than 100,000 publicly available healthcare professional social media profiles worldwide, including more than 75,000 on Twitter. Creation Pinpoint® is the world’s first monitoring tool for analysing the views of healthcare professionals in public social media.

About Creation Healthcare:

Creation Healthcare is the research and training consultancy to the healthcare industry for the digital age, advising the world’s largest pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations. Established in 1998, the company has been at the forefront of innovation in healthcare engagement for sixteen years with a global consultant team spanning 20 countries.  Creation Healthcare’s headquarters are in London, United Kingdom.  www.creationhealthcare.com.