Social media resources

Social Media Resources

If you have any other resources that would be a good addition to the list, email general@cochrane.nhs.uk or tweet us @CochraneUK

Contents

Cochrane UK social media policy

In April 2018, we revised the Cochrane UK social media policy. This document outlines how Cochrane UK staff will use social media. You can read it here. Others in Cochrane are welcome to adapt and adopt the policy, giving appropriate credit to this document.

Social media platforms and how to manage them

Buffer is the tool we use to schedule all of our posts across all of our social media channels. There is a browser extension that allows you to easily create a post from any webpage. It also intergrates with Tweetdeck, which allows you to add a retweet to your Buffer queue, so that it posts at an optimum time. Buffer also collects analytics so that you can see how well your posts are performing.

Tweetdeck is a web-based tool that allows you to view multiple Twitter streams, create user lists and lists of tweets containg key terms. You can manage multiple twitter accounts and allows scheduling.

If you are using Twitter, we recommend using Tweetdeck in conjunction with Buffer to manage your social media channels. It has led to a significant increase in the Cochrane UK social media impact. We also recommend tweeting multiple times throughout the day. This is to ensure that a good proportion of your audience see your content and do not miss it because they only check their stream once per day.

Hootsuite - is another website that can be used to post on all your social media platforms at once. You can also schedule posts and get useful analytics from the site as to how successful your posts have been. 

A useful infographic giving an overview of social media, also explaining how to begin on each platform, with a mini glossary on each.

Here are some useful tips on how to retweet successfully.

Take control. Here's is a very useful article on how to organize and manage your social media platforms.

An article on how to target journalists through Twitter.

Journal article: Using social media for continuous professional development.

A fun and brief Twitter explainer.

Everything you need to know about setting up your first tweet chat.

How to keep up with a live tweet chat.

Cochrane and social media

You can follow various Cochrane social media accounts here.

A link to Cochrane Training guidance on social media use.

Read our Evidently Cochrane blogs on communicating evidence.

To tweet or not to tweet about schizophrenia systematic reviews (TweetSz): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial from Cochrane Schizophrenia and the resulting paper "Tweeting links to Cochrane Schizophrenia Group reviews: a randomised controlled trial" published in BMJ Open

Analytics, metrics and more

Have you set yourself up on Google Analytics? With it you can measure detailed information from your website and social media platforms. If you are a Cochrane group, you can ask for Google Analytics access from the web support team.

FollowerWonk is a site that lets you analyse your Twitter followers and other accounts followers. 

Need to generate more traffic to your blog? Click here for tips to help.

A useful site from the Department of Health on digital health & guidance.

A scientific guide to how to write engaging posts and headlines.

A useful blog on measuring the impact of national and global health topic days.

Blogging

Evidently Cochrane is our blog site. It aims to make Cochrane evidence really accessible, and to encourage discussion about it, through blogs which usually feature new or updated Cochrane reviews on a health topic. Up to four times a year we have a special series with multiple blogs, and other resources, on one topic. It is for everyone who is interested in finding and using the best quality evidence to inform decisions about health. You can read a guide to blogging for Evidently Cochrane here. 

The science of science blogging. A list of useful articles to help you improve your blogging.

Evidently Cochrane blog: 8 reasons why blogs are great for sharing evidence. 

Health and social media, the debate continues...

'Perspectives: Managing professional boundaries and staying safe in digital spaces' by Anne Cooper, Professional Lead, Health and Social Care Information Centre, UK

'More reasons why doctors should be on Twitter'

A systematic review of uses, benefits and limitations of social media for health communication.

Interesting article from the BMJ on the use of social media in health care and how it could be used to treat diseases.

A useful blog on 'How to bring academics to the social media party, indirectly.'

A site for supporting GPs on social media.

Should physicians use social media? The debate and a link to Anne Cunningham's infographic.

Organizing a conference or going to one? Check out Evidently Cochrane's points on why social media is vital at events.

Content ideas

What is trending on Twitter? Can Cochrane add to the conversation? Check out the trend map.

What is trending on Google?

Useful list of free stock image websites

Events & awareness days

Symplur: Healthcare Hashtag Project, is a database of registered hastags in relation to healthcare events, Tweetchats, organisations etc.

A useful #HAVEYOU checklist to think about when tweeting at events and conferences. You can view it as a PDF or as a blog.

A guide to help you tweet at events.