Engagement with Physicians on Twitter

The U.S., just as other nations, has a shortage of primary care providers. At the same time, the rise in chronic conditions and an aging patient population is increasing the demand for health care. If this challenge is not addressed, it could lead to longer waiting periods between hospital visits and increase the unmet needs of vulnerable populations. The purpose of this study is to determine perceptions of credibility when a person is introduced to a physician on Twitter who is offering medical advice. This study used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to recruit its participants, who were asked questions pertaining to three different profiles of a Twitter user offering medical advice: 1) A profile picture of a man in physician’s clothing; 2) A profile picture of the same man in a plain collared shirt; 3) No profile picture. We asked participants about the credibility of the Twitter user offering advice and found that credibility was higher when the Twitter user had a profile picture compared to when the user did not have a profile picture. This difference occurred regardless of how the user was dressed in the profile picture. Telemedicine, such as offering medical advice on social media, may help address the shortage of primary care providers. People often use social media to seek advice about things such as where to eat, what car they should buy, or advice on how to keep their budget in order. Will people use social media to access health care