MedTwitter

#MedTwitter is the hashtag, and the loose community behind it, through which physicians, medical students, researchers and other health professionals share research, teach and network on Twitter (renamed X). A 2021 opinion article in MedEdPublish by two Virginia Commonwealth University medical students describes it as “an online community of researchers, practitioners, students, and professionals who have created an open source, decentralized forum for information share, medical education, and professional networking.” The same authors stress its limits: it is unreviewed, and posts on it are not medical advice.

Origin

No fetched source documents the first use of the hashtag. Its context, as described in the sources:

• 2006: the platform. The MedEdPublish article notes Twitter’s creation in 2006 and that the scientific community “has adopted Twitter in a unique capacity.”
• 2020–2021: the pandemic. The authors write that #MedTwitter “has proven particularly useful in the setting of the Covid-19 pandemic”, allowing the free exchange of research findings, clinicians’ experiences and clinical-trial updates as treatment protocols changed.
• July 2023: Twitter becomes X. According to Wikipedia, Elon Musk announced in July 2023 that Twitter would be rebranded to “X”, a process completed by May 2024.
• November 2024: Bluesky. STAT reported that “Bluesky sees influx of new users from ‘MedTwitter,’ scientists on X”, under the subheading “MedTwitter migrates en masse, though some feel the need to stay back.”

How It’s Used

The MedEdPublish authors describe three main uses:

• Sharing research. #MedTwitter is used to share medical discoveries, clinical findings and published treatments, and gives publications a place to be “shared, promoted, and discussed.”
• Networking. Students can connect directly with physicians, residency program directors and researchers beyond their own institutions; the authors note that many residency programs have created accounts to interact with students.
• Teaching. Educational content often travels under “tributary hashtags” used alongside #MedTwitter, such as #MedEd, #MedTweetorials and #TipsForNewDocs.

The signature format is the tweetorial. Writing in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education, Anthony Breu and colleagues define it as a “portmanteau combining tweet and tutorial” that emerged to overcome Twitter’s character limit, adding graphics, links and polls. They say the most effective tweetorials share “clearly defined educational goals” and a linear progression of ideas.

#MedTwitter Glossary

Risks and Criticism

The same openness that makes #MedTwitter useful creates risk. The MedEdPublish authors call it “an unregulated, unfiltered, and unreviewed body of information” and list potential abuses: breaches of physician–patient confidentiality, fraudulent accounts, harmful agendas, and outdated or false information. They also note that posts can be read as professionals offering advice, which is why “Many users specify ‘no medical advice’ or ‘all opinions are their own’” in their profiles.

Recent Developments

STAT reported in November 2024 that it was “difficult to quantify the scale of the scientific exodus to Bluesky”, which by then had passed 20 million accounts, and that members of science and health communities described “a slow collapse of engagement on X.”

Sources

• Fieger & Fadel, “#MedTwitter: An Open Source Medical Community”, MedEdPublish (2021), via PMC
• Breu et al., “Tweetorials for Medical Educators”, Journal of Graduate Medical Education (2021), via PMC
• Bluesky sees influx of new users from ‘MedTwitter,’ scientists on X, STAT (November 21, 2024)
• Twitter, Wikipedia