Medical Student Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, Illinois, United States
Introduction: Social media has emerged as an important way for hospitals to interface and engage with their patients and communities. It remains unclear whether the neurology/neurosurgery reputation rank of a children's hospital is related to its social media presence.
Methods: We examined the top 50 children's hospitals listed in the 2021 US News and World Report Children's Neurology and Neurosurgery ranking. Data was collected on number of Instagram followers; Instagram posts/likes in 2021; Facebook followers; Facebook likes/posts in 2021; Twitter followers; and Twitter tweets/retweets/likes in 2021. Follower data was collected on the same day. Number of hospital beds, academic affiliation, city population, and number of attending neurologists and neurosurgeons on staff were also recorded. Spearman and Pearson partial correlation coefficients were calculated. Univariate regression analysis was also conducted.
Results: We observed significant correlations between rank and overall score with the number of Instagram followers (r= -0.54, p< 0.0001; r=0.35, p=0.014), Instagram likes (r= -0.41, p=0.0033; r=0.45, p=0.0010), Facebook followers (r= -0.52, p=0.0001; r=0.57, p< 0.0001), Facebook likes (r= -0.41, p=0.0030; r=0.47, p=0.0005), Twitter followers (r= -0.65, p< 0.0001; r=0.67, p< 0.0001), and Twitter tweets (r= -0.33, p=0.018). Rank only was associated Twitter retweets (r=-0.53, p< 0.0001) and Twitter likes (-0.45, p=0.0011). Univariate regression analysis demonstrated significant associations between rank/overall score and Instagram followers (β= -1.9 x 10e-4, p=0.014; β= 1.0 x10e-4, p=0.014), Facebook followers (β= -6.1 x10e-5, p=0.0002; β= 3.7 x10e-5, p< 0.0001), Twitter followers (β= -5.6 x10e-5, p< 0.0001; β= -3.1 x10e-4, p< 0.0001), number of beds (β= -0.055, p< 0.0001; β= 0.028, p=0.00011), and number of staff (β= -0.69, p< 0.0001; β= 0.40, p< 0.0001).
Conclusion : USNWR Children's Neurology and Neurosurgery ranking and overall score are independently associated with social media presence across multiple platforms. It is unclear if ranking drives social media presence/following or vice versa.
