Social media allows the doctors to share opinions on healthcare policy, medical developments and personal cases. A doctor can also inspire others but at the same time, he should take care of the following: 1- You have to maintain patient confidentiality and when using social media that communications intended for friends or family may become more widely available. 2- When you advertise your services you have to be sure that all information shared is double-checked to avoid lack of any medical knowledge. 3- You can be available in different social media platforms a writing microblogs on Twitter, internet forums such as doctors.net, Youtube, Flicker, Facebook and Linkedin. 4- The standard expected for doctors doesn't change but they meet patients through social media rather than face to face. However, using social media create new circumstances in which the established principles applied. 5- You should be updated and follow your organization's policy on social media. 6- You have to check your privacy settings for each of your social media platforms as most people can't differentiate between public and private life and any online information can be accessed by others, and this is for the following reasons: a- Any online information could be shared easily and even after deleting your post, it could be taken as a screenshot and shared through different pages. b- Patients and any employers could access your personal life, so you can make them as limited profile to secure your private life. c- Privacy settings are updated most of the time, so you have to check it regularly that it is not changed. d- Photos and locations could be easily known also. Benefits for doctors using social media: 1- Establishing national and international professional networks. 2- Facilitating patients' access to information about services and health. 3- Engaging people in public health and policy discussions. How to be a physician social media influencer? 1- Provide useful information and interact with their medical counterparts in a meaningful way. 2- They should also set an industry standard for best practices on social media including staying away from special interests and behaving ethically. 3 Things most doctors get wrong about social media 1- Social media won't help healthcare SEO rankings When hospitals get their digital marketing strategies off the ground, what they really want to know is whether their sites are ranking in the search engines. Boosting posts on soil media lets the search engines know that your practice is credible and the social media profile could show up in the search results. 2- Facebook organic posts on pages could be a great way to engage with the audience, bout, on the other hand, paid or boosted posts should be considered in the social media marketing strategy which helps to reach more audience with interests related to your specialty and topics they search about most of their time. 3- Facebook is not the only platform that could be used to be an influencer as sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus continue to gain traction for business and practices and help you to be seen when the audience searches for information about your specialty.
