CanadianGal Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 I just started medical school and I am hearing that it is important to have an online presence as a medical student. How helpful/important is it to have a LinkedIn as a medical student? or any other platforms? DrOtter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambi Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 In my experience, it is neither necessary, relevant, helpful nor important. frenchpress, Meningocoele, FutureERDoc and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 Not even a little bit IMO. FutureERDoc, CanadianGal, blah1234 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrOtter Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 lol I just created a Twitter account and started following a few medical journalists, but that's mostly so I can be more informed of the news CanadianGal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nirvanesthesia Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 Depends on what you define as "important." Twitter has definitely helped me stay up to date on medical news, and also connect with people in the medical community that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise (eg. students from other schools). CanadianGal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egg_McMuffin Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 6 hours ago, CanadianGal said: I just started medical school and I am hearing that it is important to have an online presence as a medical student. LOL who told you that it's important? The one that I see people using predominantly for professional purposes is Twitter, that's the one where a lot of people who do advocacy congregate. Even so, the three main actions on there seem to be: 1. complain. 2. brag. 3. suck up (e.g."wow what a wonderful lecture by Dr.X!"), none of which are helpful Nirvanesthesia, honeymoon, Tullius and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nirvanesthesia Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 33 minutes ago, Egg_McMuffin said: LOL who told you that it's important? The one that I see people using predominantly for professional purposes is Twitter, that's the one where a lot of people who do advocacy congregate. Even so, the three main actions on there seem to be: 1. complain. 2. brag. 3. suck up (e.g."wow what a wonderful lecture by Dr.X!"), none of which are helpful Hahaha that’s pretty true Those are mainly the med students, though. I’ve learned some cool things from physicians, etc. on there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blah1234 Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 It's good for medical education. However, being active on social media is a liability in my opinion. Say the wrong thing and it can be used against you and unfortunately we are held to a higher bar as professionals. It's a headache that I don't want to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicallyricalmiracle Posted September 3, 2020 Report Share Posted September 3, 2020 most of the "my life as a ____ student/profession" social media accounts i see are just people feeding their inner narcissists rather than useful/productive use of social media. there are a few exceptions (ali abdaal's youtube channel is pretty great for people genuinely curious about pursuing medical education) but aside from those i think most med social media is pretty useless lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 12 hours ago, CanadianGal said: I just started medical school and I am hearing that it is important to have an online presence as a medical student. How helpful/important is it to have a LinkedIn as a medical student? or any other platforms? really? I honestly don't think so as all really. That just isn't how the system works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GH0ST Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 It can be more useful if you're planning on doing things outside of medicine - G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bk2skl Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 Somewhere between 'not at all important' and 'actively detrimental.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostLamb Posted September 4, 2020 Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 Personally, the importance of having it is in protecting your brand. i am not active on LinkedIn, but I have an account and profile just so no one else can start one up in my name and then I have to undo whatever they have put there. My LinkedIn is now a top hit for my name on google, and I am fine with that. Some might want to do similar for Facebook, Twitter, etc. I haven’t because I don’t like being vocal on SM for the reasons mentioned above. otherwise it’s good to have an active account for whatever platform your med school class uses for non school based communications—just to be looped in. At least I found it helpful and sometimes it was a space for sharing resources. Still, no need to use it for the rest of the social media frills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted September 19, 2020 Report Share Posted September 19, 2020 I'm fairly active across multiple platforms and it's generally been a very positive thing for me throughout my training. It has helped me set up electives and make connections with some fantastic docs. That said, I think Mac faculty in particular have a generally stronger social media presence than may be common at other schools which is part of why it has been such a positive thing. That said, if you are prone to saying unwise things online and are not prepared to be careful about what you say, professional social media may not be for you. It is by no means essential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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