2014 Social Media Survey
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How do nurse practitioners and physician assistants use social media?
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How Do NPs/PAs use social media?
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Most popular social media service
Although Doximity and LinkedIn were the social networks users most favored for business purposes, only 4% of respondents said they actually used Doximity, whereas 57% used LinkedIn. Instagram and Pinterest were the two services most likely to be used for personal rather than business purposes (91% vs. 12% and 89% vs. 13%, respectively), whereas Google+ was used equally for both (68.42% vs. 61.99%). Respondents also placed greater value on Facebook (85% vs. 32%), YouTube (83% vs. 37%), and Twitter (78% vs. 30%) for personal rather than business purposes.
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NP/PA Facebook usage frequency
Facebook was the social media service users were most likely to use more than once per day (20%), followed by Google+ (9%). Approximately 2% or fewer of all respondents reported using Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn or Doximity multiple times per day.
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. NP/PA Google+ usage frequency
Google+ was the third most popular social media service after Facebook and LinkedIn, but ranked second behind Facebook in terms of frequency of use.
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NP/PA Twitter usage frequency
Those who reported using Twitter did so most commonly on a monthly basis.
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NP/PA Pinterest usage frequency
Among the 37% of respondents who reported using Pinterest, most who do so said they use the service on a weekly to monthly basis.
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NP/PA YouTube usage frequency
For the 50% of respondents who reported using YouTube, weekly and monthly usage was more common than daily.
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NP/PA Instagram usage frequency
Overall, fewer than one quarter of those surveyed said they used Instagram, but the majority of those who did, used it on a daily to weekly basis.
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NP/PA LinkedIn usage frequency
Among the approximate 57% who reported using LinkedIn, those who did, were most likely to do so on a weekly and monthly basis.
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NP/PA Doximity usage frequency
The majority of those surveyed do not use Doximity.
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Do NPs/PAs use social media to access info about products & services?
Nearly 90% of respondents who use social media do so to access information and products and services.
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What types of information do NPs/PAs share via social media?
Just more than half of NPs and PAs surveyed share clinical information and professional news on social media sites, but for those who do, Facebook and LinkedIn are their go-to resources.
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Does social media help or harm NPs’/PAs’ careers?
Only about half of respondents said they use social media for their career, but most of those who did say they felt they benefited from such services, and none said social media was detrimental to their careers. Among those who submitted open-ended responses, some said they liked using social to keep in touch with old co-workers, whereas others said they use twitter to stay up-to-date with the latest news, and still others responded that it’s too time consuming an endeavor.
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Do NPs/PAs think they will use social media more in 2015?
Most feel that social media is here to stay, and about half of respondents thought they'll use it more than ever in the future.
Do you suffer from fear of missing out -- also known as FOMO -- wondering if other healthcare providers are getting more out of social media websites than you?
Could you get a better job if you networked on LinkedIn? Attract more patients by promoting your practice on Facebook? Be the first person to know about drug recalls that affect your patients from Twitter?
The Clinical Advisor’s Social Media Survey attempts to answer those questions. Overall, 350 nurse practitioners and physician assistants responded to our survey in August and September 2014, answering questions about how they used eight well-known social media services: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Doximity.
The results are in: Slightly under half of respondents reported using some form of social media for business (45%), whereas two-thirds reported some form of personal use (68%; composite use across all websites).
A note about respondent demographics: Both women and nurse practitioners were over represented, making up 88% and 70% of respondents, respectively. In terms of age, those 35 to 64 years comprised the bulk of survey participants, with those aged 35 to 54 years making up 49%, and those aged 55 to 64 years accounting for 30%.
Just under half of respondents worked in office practices (42%), followed by hospital clinics (17%) or standalone clinics (18%), hospitals (16%) or walk-in/ambulatory settings (7%).
Not every participant answered every question. We have indicated total number of respondents for each area addressed. Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
This is the first installment of Pulse Point, our new crowdsourced feature that aims to bring you easy to absorb visual insights on the latest trends among your clinician peers.
Compiled by Nicole Blazek, Senior Clinical Content Editor
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