Social media has edged its way into our lives, hearts—and also onto our last nerve at times. What was once an optional folly is now an inescapable part of both our personal and professional lives. Whether cautiously uploading personal photos onto a personal account—praying they never find their way into the hands of clients, or attending the latest conference and tweeting every last detail, no one is safe from the grasp of the social media phenomenon. Now, however, it seems that social media may be set to give back. A study recently published by the American Journal of Transplantation suggests that social media might be key to tackling a range of issues related to public health in which increased communication and education are essential.
The trial, conducted in the USA in conjunction with Facebook, allowed users to indicate ‘organ donor’ on their timeline status and following this they would be given a link to the official state donor registry and a message sent to their friends to inform them of their new status. Online registration activity spiked following the initiative, in only one day the number of organ donor registrations experienced a 21-fold increase—13,054 new registrations compared to 616. The research showed that registration rates remained elevated in the following 12 days although after this the effect waned—Andrew Cameron, MD, PhD, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, project leader, commented, “The bump we saw did diminish over some weeks, implying that more work is needed to assure sustainability or ‘virality’ in this case.” He opined that more research needs to be done into the impact social media and social networks could have upon organ supply.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
