P3B169: How to Be a #tweetiatrician: Analysis of Account Metrics and Information in Profiles of Pediatricians on Twitter

Background: The ways pediatricians advocate have greatly evolved over the last decade. The rise of social media has extended the tools available for advocacy to include online platforms such as Twitter. Pediatricians have organized advocacy efforts on Twitter using “#tweetiatrican” in their public profiles and within individual tweets. We explored associations of Twitter profiles with engagement variables to establish strategies for effective use of this platform by pediatrician advocates.

Methods: Data from 163 users with #tweetiatrician in their Twitter profiles were exported (April 2022). Additional variables were manually extracted from user biography pages and coded as personal or professional. Single and multivariate ANOVA regressions were performed characterizing relationships among variables.

Results: Accounts had a median of 1,044 followers (range 171-241,640); followed 1,535 ± 1,993 other accounts; had 11,293 ± 47,020 tweets (median 2969.5); and tweeted 3.33 ± 10.3 tweets/day (median 1.1). Banner photos of 55.2% of accounts depicted personal settings; 31.9% depicted professional settings; 4.9% were anonymous; 8.0% had no banner. All accounts had profile pictures: 9.2% were personal; 82.8% were headshots/professional; 8.0% were anonymous. Text in profiles contained 2.6 ± 2 personal elements and 3.5 ± 2 professional elements. 20.7% of accounts listed an academic affiliation; 7.3% listed non-academic affiliations. Follower count was significantly associated with account characteristics (multivariate r² = 0.52), including: tweets shared (β = -0.858 followers/tweet, p < 0.001); tweet density (number of tweets/account age) (β = 1269.17 followers/tweet per day, p = 0.02); list subscription (β = 225.74 followers/list, p < 0.001); favorites per tweet (β = -1.48 followers/favorite, p = 0.02); accounts followed (β = -1.44 followers/account, p = 0.02). Personal bio elements (β = 780.48 followers/element, p = 0.13) and professional bio elements (β = -702.69 followers/element, p = 0.09) were near but did not reach levels of significance. Total number of favorites was significantly associated with account characteristics (multivariate r² = 0.86) including: tweet density (β = 4949.22 favorites/tweet per day, p < 0.001) and number of personal elements in bio (β = 2074.02 favorites/element, p = 0.02). Favorites per tweet was also associated with account characteristics (multivariate r² = 0.35). In bivariate analysis (r2 = 0.35), favorites/tweet was associated with professional elements (β = 0.61 favorites per tweet/element, p < 0.001) and personal profile elements (β = 0.42 favorites per tweet/element, p = 0.005).

Conclusion: Having a professional profile picture, including personal and professional bio components, and tweeting at least once per day were associated with higher levels of engagement. Tweetiatricians with high follower counts tweet more per day, subscribe to lists, and follow more accounts. Those who received more engagement had more personal and professional items listed in their profiles. Such strategies may be adopted by aspiring tweetiatricians looking to build their Twitter presence.