Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Department of Paediatrics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
J Med Syst. 2023 Nov 16;47(1):117. doi: 10.1007/s10916-023-02013-3.
Twitter has become a powerful tool for professional development in academia. However, studies from the general population suggest that racialized and gender biases disproportionately empower male and white users. We characterized the demographics of Twitter influencers in Canadian healthcare.
We used the Right Relevance Insight API algorithm to identify Twitter influencers in the healthcare, healthcare research, and health policy domains, and to generated normalized influencer scores based on user connections and engagement. We used facial recognition software to approximate the influencers' race and sex.
The majority of influencers identified were white (84%) and/or male (60%). Males had significantly higher influencer scores than females (65.1 ± 8.0 vs. 61.2 ± 6.2, P < 0.05) in health policy. We did not identify any sex- or race-associated disparities among influencers in healthcare or healthcare research.
Male users have significantly higher levels of influence in health policy on Twitter. Given the importance of Twitter as a tool for professional development, it is crucial that institutional leaders and policymakers are aware of potential inequities in user reach. Future studies should evaluate additional factors shaping user influence in healthcare on Twitter, with a focus on equity, diversity, and trustworthiness.
Twitter 已成为学术界专业发展的有力工具。然而，来自普通人群的研究表明，种族和性别偏见不成比例地赋予了男性和白人用户权力。我们描述了加拿大医疗保健领域 Twitter 影响者的人口统计学特征。
我们使用 Right Relevance Insight API 算法来识别医疗保健、医疗保健研究和健康政策领域的 Twitter 影响者，并根据用户联系和参与度生成标准化的影响者得分。我们使用面部识别软件来近似影响者的种族和性别。
确定的大多数影响者是白人（84%）和/或男性（60%）。在健康政策方面，男性的影响者得分明显高于女性（65.1±8.0 对 61.2±6.2，P<0.05）。我们没有在医疗保健或医疗保健研究中发现任何与性别或种族相关的影响者差异。
在 Twitter 上，男性用户在健康政策方面的影响力明显更高。鉴于 Twitter 作为专业发展工具的重要性，机构领导者和政策制定者必须意识到用户影响力方面可能存在的不平等。未来的研究应该评估影响 Twitter 上医疗保健中用户影响力的其他因素，重点关注公平性、多样性和可信度。
