How important is it to have an online presence as a medical student?

[CanadianGal]

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?

 

[Bambi]

In my experience, it is neither necessary, relevant, helpful nor important.

[ellorie]

Not even a little bit IMO. 

[DrOtter]

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  

[Nirvanesthesia]

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).

[Egg_McMuffin]

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]

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 

[blah1234]

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.

[medicallyricalmiracle]

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

[rmorelan]

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. 

[GH0ST]

It can be more useful if you're planning on doing things outside of medicine

- G

[bk2skl]

Somewhere between 'not at all important' and 'actively detrimental.'

[LostLamb]

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. 

[Birdy]

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.