An Alternate Point of View from a Social Media Introvert

Author: Amna Anees MD FACP Dipl. ABOM

Keywords: Social media, under-represented in medicine, introvert, bias

I still remember that day when my existence came into question. After presenting a talk at a national forum, I was attending the rest of the conference. This was during COVID-19 pandemic so the conference was virtual. I read in the comments a reference to the Twitter handle for a speaker and decided to log on to my twitter account. I had made that account about five to six years back during an AAIM chief resident meeting where there was a workshop on social media and how to use twitter effectively. I have to be honest here, I forgot all about it afterwards until I dusted up my app, found my password somewhere in the deep dark vaults of my phone, and logged on to twitter on the day of my conference. What I see is that there is so much appreciation for all the talks and speakers on twitter for that particular conference. However, I don’t see any mention of my name or my talk. It is almost as if my talk did not exist. Looking back, other than the obvious possibility that my talk was a horrible one (entirely possible), the other possibility was that I did not exist on twitter and I had not associated my speaker profile with a twitter handle. Okay no worries, I thought. But like any human being, I felt a bit down that this was truly representing the phenomenon; out of sight, out of mind”. Basically, if it is not on social media, it did not happen! This made me wonder, will I get more speaking opportunities? 

Going forward, I noticed that for talks for different conferences, there was always appreciation for folks who were active on twitter but less for those that are not on twitter. While this may seem appropriate to some, for the lack of a better word, it irritated me initially. Does this mean that people who are not active on social media are less academically robust or not good presenters? No. I also noticed that with #medtwitter and match twitter, there were a lot of potential candidates posting about themselves on twitter. This raised a question in my mind; is there any way this is introducing a potential bias? Applicants who are active on Social media and are able to interact more with programs, are they more likely to be “known” to the program? Is this more important when everything has gone virtual with COVID? Does this lead to a form of selection bias where candidates who are not on social media due to lack of resources or interest are selected against? While I agree that social media is the way forward, I just want to highlight that people who are not on social media can also be academically robust, applicants who are not posting actively on twitter can also be very promising candidates. When we give shout-outs on social media, it should not matter if the person is on social media or not. Inclusion should always be practiced. Not everyone has a “spentor” (a combination of sponsor and mentor). Not everyone feels comfortable with self-promotion, however gentle it is. This should not mean that their talks or work should not be highlighted. This can have an impact on further career growth also. I also want to highlight that underrepresented women in medicine may not get the same positive response on social media as well, further widening that bias 

I am truly curious about how you keep bias out of your selection for a speaker or a candidate for example if you know them better just from a social media outlet. This also makes me wonder that since our feeds are “algorithmic” (reference: social dilemma documentary on Netflix), does that further introduce bias and does not allow us to see the “other” side of the picture? While this may not have mattered 10 years ago, it certainly does seem to matter now when there is so much polarity to everything. I do not have answers to these questions but do wonder about the direction we are headed. 

This is truly an era where the world is a global village. The ability to make connections and friends now is more than what is so exciting but while we reach for the skies, I just wonder if we are leaving behind some people unknowingly and unfairly.  Where is the balance and how do we decide it? After all, it is an existence question for some.

Acknowledgement: Dr. Eileen Barrett

About the author: Amna Anees MD FACP is an internist, and associate program director for Internal Medicine residency at CAMC/WVU-Charleston, WV (Twitter: @anees_amna).