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The Latest Crop of Instagram Influencers? Medical Students

In 2018 America, chances are high that you’ve come across the work of a celebrity physician in some form: Maybe you’ve passively watched Dr. Oz while waiting at a doctor’s office, or flipped through one of Deepak Chopra’s books on alternative medicine.

Celebrity physicians often catapult to fame via their mastery of traditional media, like television or radio or books or magazines, and we’re used to seeing medical advice and expertise there. What you may have yet to encounter, or haven’t fully noticed yet, is the growing group of current medical students who are perhaps on track to achieve even greater fame, through their prodigious and aggressive use of social media, particularly…

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Featured

 How These Doctors Fight the Social Media Trust War

Some physicians have decided the fight for trust can no longer be confined to exam rooms — it has to happen on social media, where millions of people are already searching for answers, while a collection of opportunists, saboteurs, and bots wants them to believe and embrace the worst.

 The rise of the nursefluencer

Health care influencers who have flooded the site within the past few years say they’re fighting back against that kind of social media misinformation. Many nurses and doctors on Instagram combine the cute, aspirational lifestyle aesthetic of regular fashion and beauty influencers with actual medical tips from a vetted professional. There are now so many medical professionals on Instagram that at least one hospital has created an entire position to govern it.

Articles of Interest

Medical influencing — the good, the bad and the ugly: From the perspective of social media influencers

Healthcare and medical influencing are on the rise. Influencers are now harnessing the power of social media to disseminate information and gain further followers to become popular idols for the masses. But is the audience being turned into a scapegoat, or is the task as noble as their profession?

Click for clinicians: The rise of the doctorfluencer

Health professionals are becoming social media superstars. Is this the antidote to medical misinformation – or risky business?

Doctor Influencers: The rise of medical professionals on social media

Healthcare has traditionally been confined to private consultations, but the internet has changed that. More patients turn to Google before their doctors, and misleading health trends gain traction faster than verified medical advice. Doctors on social media are stepping in to correct misinformation, provide trusted insights, and offer guidance in a way that traditional healthcare channels often fail to do. Their content ranges from myth-busting medical advice to behind-the-scenes hospital life, making medicine more relatable and engaging.

Doctors are now social-media influencers. They aren’t all ready for it

“I actually think that the lack of quality physicians on social media has led to the rise of social influencers pedaling miraculous cures and detox teas and all that,” says Mikhail Varshavski, aka “Doctor Mike,” a family physician in New Jersey who has more than 5 million subscribers on YouTube. Until recently, he added, personality-driven medical social media has “just been sort of this black hole where doctors aren’t there because they don’t want to be perceived as unprofessional, and as a result, misinformation thrives.”

Dr TikTok? Why younger audiences are turning to influencers for healthcare information

Globally, 33% of Gen Z and 26% of millennials (compared to 5% of Baby Boomers) will use social media to discuss illness. For Gen Z, the top platform is TikTok followed by Instagram and Twitter. Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers turn to Facebook first instead. For individuals with chronic health conditions, relying on social media for information has become a standard regardless of age. For example, 29% of individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) use specific groups on social media for health information, while 28% rely on online influencers.

How Wellness Influencers Spreading Misinformation Signals a Deeper Problem Within Our Health Care System

We all gravitate toward trusting people with shared experiences. But on social media, there are additional factors that lure us in. As many seek out health information that will heal us and reverse the clock on aging, ironically, what it often comes down to is time.

Medical influencers come with serious side effects

They make it harder than ever for ordinary mortals to know who to trust for independent medical and well-being advice. Many people lack the expertise to assess influencers’ claims, making them especially vulnerable to persuasion by celebrity doctors and scientists.

Medical influencers: navigating social media as doctors

In broad terms, a social media influencer is someone with access to a large or dedicated audience and the ability to influence others to act based on their recommendations. Some have established credibility in a specific area, such as pre-existing celebrities. Others are influential based purely on their social media activities, mostly on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, among other platforms.

Patient Influencers: The Next Frontier in Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Marketing

Social media influencers are becoming an increasingly popular strategic communication tactic used across industry verticals, including entertainment, fashion, and beauty, to engage directly with consumers. Pharmaceutical companies have also recently entered the social media marketing arena and—within the bounds of governmental regulations—have found ways to build relationships directly with patients using covert persuasion tactics like partnering with social media influencers.

The Rise and Risks of Medical Influencers

There are growing numbers of well meaning medics jumping online to help provide advice to the public; unfortunately sometimes these good intentions can go wrong! Like all technology, if not used responsibly, social media can create safety and liability issues. Additionally, because social media changes rapidly, standards and best practices are not always well defined.

The rise of medfluencers

A Medfluencer a day keeps the doctor away? ‘Medfluencer’ is the term for healthcare personnel that are also influencers, and these medfluencers have become very popular on social media. So how exactly did these doctors and nurses and dentists (and many, many more) get to become so well-known in the online world? And, more importantly, how can brands get involved?

The Rise of Medical Influencers

The best medical information and advice is nothing without good messaging. Whether it takes place in an individual medical encounter or in broader public health outreach, how public or private health care professionals communicate with their target audiences may determine whether the professional guidance is accepted or ignored.

The rise of medical influencers: The pros and the cons

In the past few years, the online influencer industry has exponentially expanded, fuelled by the COVID pandemic lockdown, increased social media platforms and lifestyle appeal of influencership. This phenomenon has likewise infiltrated the medical field, where many healthcare practitioners have taken to social media platforms for content creation and influencer marketing. There are many reasons that underlie medical influencership – some may use it to improve public health literacy and correct medical misinformation, engage in medical advocacy or use the platform simply as a means of humanistic expression of the medical career, while others may seek to advertise private practice/medical products, boost personal reputation, and gain popularity and monetary benefits

The rise of the healthcare influencer

Influencer culture has well and truly taken over the internet. From food and fashion to gaming and technology, thousands of online influencers all over the world have built up large and active audiences in almost all industries.

The rise of the healthcare social media influencer

Consider that when an influencer shares content, 93% of followers are likely to ask their physicians or healthcare professionals for more information about a specific medication, when an influencer shares information about a specific medication, 87% of followers are likely to ask their physician or healthcare professional about the treatment.

The Rise of the ‘Influencer’and What It Means for Health

Once upon a time, before the rise of the internet, a person would get passionate about something. They would then go to university or college, get educated in their field and go off and make a difference in the world. Over time they would build experience and credibility in their field, which would lead to them becoming well known through their work, and perhaps then become a speaker or an author. These days what we’re seeing is the rise of the health “Influencer”, someone who is usually unqualified and often with no clinical experience. They have a large following on social media, giving you the ‘latest’ health advice like it’s the gospel (I use health advice here in the broadest and loosest of terms).

The Rise of the ‘Medical Influencer’ and Sincerely Dubious Health Advice

Every day, tens of thousands of influencers are popping up on the internet, claiming to be the font of all knowledge. The medical sector is far from immune to this with 1000s dishing out, what is frequently rather dubious advice and unproven, potentially dangerous information. ...Copyright © Luxurious Magazine® https://www.luxuriousmagazine.com/medical-influencer-dubious-advice/

The rise of ‘doctor influencers’ and the blurring lines between fame and ethics

With outside motivators such as money and fame, the ethics and morality of ‘doctor influencers’ are easy to call into question.

TikTok Docs: The Rise of Physicians on TikTok

If you thought TikTok, the popular social media platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance, was just for dance trends and viral challenges, think again. In the ever-evolving social media landscape, TikTok has emerged as a surprising but powerful platform for medical professionals. With 1.59 billion monthly users, TikTok presents physicians with a unique opportunity to reach a massive audience with bite-sized medical insights. However, as more doctors join the app, questions arise about the impact of their presence. Who are the most popular physicians on TikTok today? And what are the pros and cons of their digital influence?

TikTok has opened the door to a new age of medical misinformation – and I’m seeing the results in A&E

As a doctor, I am now seeing patients who have chosen not to take medication on the advice of online wellness influencers

Resources

20 Top Physician Social Media Influencers

Social media allows physicians to connect with peers around the world and share opinions on medical developments, healthcare policy...

5 Doctors Who Are Killing It on Social Media Right Now

These 5 doctors know how to make social media work for their practices. Here are a few takeaways you can apply to your own practice’s social media platforms.

9 influencers shaping health information online, for better or worse

Meet the medical experts, pseudoscientific entertainers, and MAHA mobilizers.

Austin Chiang MD

Medicine is a team sport, and I’m on your team.

doctor.mike

Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, better known as Dr. Mike, has become something of a social media sensation. The Russian-born, second-year medical resident has acquired 1.9 million followers on Instagram while posting photos of himself on the job, in the gym, and alongside his dog (and a slew of celebrities). His pictures promote and encourage a healthy lifestyle - PatientPop

Eric Topol

Topol, a cardiologist by training, tweets multiple times a day to share medical studies, voice his opinion, and direct his followers to articles that cover the intersection of health care with data and technology - PatientPop

Howard Luks MD

Dr. Howard Luks, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in New York, is certainly not a one-trick pony when it comes to social media. Luks’ greatest following is on Twitter, but the doctor also maintains an active presence on Facebook and YouTube.

Kevin Pho, M.D

In 2012, Klout named Dr. Kevin Pho, a board-certified internal medicine physician, as the web’s no. 1 social media influencer in health care and medicine. Four years later, Pho continues to be a go-to online resource, primarily for other physicians and medical students - PatientPop

mrs_angemi

Nicole Angemi, aka @mrs_angemi, is a pathologist's assistant in real life. But online she helms one of Instagram's most controversial accounts, a first-hand portal into the world of organ dissections and autopsies - Xavier Aaronson

SeattleMamaDoc

Swanson is a Seattle-based pediatrician, who frequently tweets and blogs about health issues that interest parents in particular - PatientPop