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Commentary: Impact of social media applications like Instagram, Facebook,

Twitter, and YouTube on ophthalmological education

Article · September 2022

DOI: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_1163_22

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Kirandeep Kaur Bharat Gurnani

Aravind Eye Hospital Pondicherry Aravind eye hospital and Post Graduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Pondicherry
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September 2022 Tıskaoğlu and Seyyar: Popular ophthalmology
Commentary: Impact of social
media applications like Instagram,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube on
ophthalmological education
In this era of digitization, the rapid expansion of global
science, social networking, and diversification of media,
social media applications  (apps) like Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube have played a key role in
disseminating ophthalmological content.[1] This has improved
communication between doctors and doctors and patients.
With the launch of interactive Web 2.0, social media has evolved
as a major platform for strategic business planning, improving
educational activities, research, and academics between
various organizations, and improving public relationships.[2]
Today, social media is loaded with excessive academic content,
which has led to extreme web‑based traffic through social
networking. Before embarking on various social media apps,
we should understand the meaning of “social media”.[3] The
oxford dictionary definition of social media is “websites and
applications that enable users to create and share content or
to participate in social networking,” and as per Wikipedia,
it is “web‑based and mobile‑based technologies which are
used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among
organizations, communities, and individuals.”[4] The global
COVID‑19 pandemic forced everyone to a new normal
of internet‑based education and e‑learning in the form of
webinars, online classes, journal clubs, multicentric case
discussions, and even recorded and live surgical demonstration
by use of a GoPro camera and transmitting through the
Facebook app. Social media platforms and apps have made life
easy by promoting accessible communication, improved global
collaborations, resource sharing, reducing carbon footprint like
paper, pens, and pencils, and cutting down costs, resources,
and even travel expenses.[5] A great example of this was seen
during the last two years of the COVID‑19 pandemic in the
form of virtual conferences. This has also given birth to social
constructivism theory, which means sharing knowledge,
educational resources, and personal learning through
interaction and socialization. A previous study showed that as
high as 80% of young people have a social media account on
various networking websites.[6] Smartphones have become an
integral part of day‑to‑day life, and everyone has easy access
to the internet these days. This has made connectivity easier
and has facilitated sharing of medical and educational content
through various networking sites like WhatsApp, Instagram,
Facebook, and LinkedIn.[7]
Social media apps have grown tremendously over the past
decade. Instagram is one such active platform with more than
1.1 billion active users and disseminating educational content
of more than 30 mins per day. It is a powerful avenue for all
ophthalmologists to share videos and images, engage followers,
and share ophthalmic literature. Nearly all ophthalmic societies
and journals have a page on Instagram to engage with fellow
ophthalmologists and build a community with a common
interest. It is a unique online platform for providing mentorship
and encouraging the mentees. The Facebook app is another
platform for disseminating ophthalmological content by
posting images, and videos, creating a page, and sharing the
hashtags as a source of education 3253
posts of other colleagues. The information and posts can also
be shared through URLs or links. LinkedIn is a professional
website to link and collaborate with the medical community
and share a wide array of information. Besides medical
information, LinkedIn is a unique platform that provides job
opportunities, and most of the recruiters are highly active
there. YouTube is another platform where doctors and surgeons
can make separate channels and upload educational videos.
The ophthalmic surgical videos have revolutionized surgical
training to a great extent. Twitter is another application where
most ophthalmic committees, organizations and journals
regularly update medical information to engage relevant
people. Channels like Cataract coach, iFocus online, Aurotube,
Eyetube, AIOC‑ARC, etc., have had a profound impact on
ophthalmic education globally.
The authors’ current Instagram study[8] is a unique endeavor
to assess the impact of social media on ophthalmic education,
and the authors must be congratulated for bringing out this crisp
analysis. The unique thing about this cross‑sectional analysis was
that a large database was analyzed only in a brief period of three
days. The authors have used five hashtags, 1) #Ophthalmology,
2) #ophthalmosurgery, 3) #ophthalmologyresident, 4)
#ophthalmicphotography, and 5) #ophthalmologist to make
the methodology uncomplicated and replicable. If analyzed
deeply, the results of the study are very interesting. The
majority of the posts (80%) were by medical doctors, and 95%
were ophthalmic specialists. Most of the authors were from
USA (n = 220, 44%) and UK (n = 93, 19%). The most common
intent of the posts was education in 63% (n = 315), followed by
promotion in 25% (n = 127) and entertainment in 12% (n = 58).
Medical retina  (119) was the most common specialty, and a
majority of the posts were images (452), followed by videos (23).
The study gives intricate insights into Instagram as a great
source of ophthalmic education. The interesting take‑home
message is that a careful selection of hashtags and author
posts can maximize and disseminate educational content in a
short period. Digital educational platforms and applications
have transformed ophthalmic education, and the COVID‑19
pandemic has multiplied this exponentially.
Kirandeep Kaur, Bharat Gurnani1
Pediatric and Squint, 1Cornea and Refractive Services,
Aravind Eye Hospital and Post Graduate Institute of
Ophthalmology, Pondicherry, India
Correspondence to: Dr Bharat Gurnani,
Consultant Cornea and Refractive Services, Aravind Eye
Hospital and Post Graduate Institute of Ophthalmology,
Pondicherry ‑ 605 007, India.
E‑mail: drgurnanibharat25@gmail.com
References
1. Al‑Khersan  H, Lazzarini  TA, Fan  KC, Patel  NA, Tran  AQ,
Tooley AA, et al. Social media in ophthalmology: An analysis of
use in the professional sphere. Health Informatics J 2020;26:2967‑75.
2. Vervaart  P. Role of social media and the internet in education.
EJIFCC 2012;23:24‑7.
3. Aichner  T, Grünfelder M, Maurer  O. Twenty‑five years of
social media: A  review of social media applications and
definitions from 1994 to 2019. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw
2021;24:215‑22.
 3254 Indian Journal of Ophthalmology Volume 70 Issue 9

4. Social media. Wikipedia website. Available from: http://

This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media.  [Last accessed on the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License,
2022 May 08]. which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially,
5. Gurnani  B, Kaur  K. Analysis of COVID‑19 publications in the as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under
Indian Journal of Ophthalmology during two years of the pandemic the identical terms.
and their impact on ophthalmic literature. Indian J Ophthalmol
2022;70:1522‑32. Access this article online
6. Kalasi MR. The impact of social networking on new age teaching Quick Response Code:
Website:
and learning: An overview. J Educ Soc Policy 2010;1:23‑8. www.ijo.in
7. Latif MZ, Hussain I, Saeed R. Use of smart phones and social media DOI:
in medical education: Trends, advantages, challenges and barriers.
10.4103/ijo.IJO_1163_22
Acta Inform Med 2019;27:133‑8.
8. Tıskaoğlu NS, Seyyar SA. #Ophthalmology: Popular ophthalmology PMID:
hashtags as an educational source for ophthalmologists, an ***
Instagram study. Indian J Ophthalmol 2022;70:3247-52.

Cite this article as: Kaur K, Gurnani B. Commentary: Impact of social

media applications like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube on
ophthalmological education. Indian J Ophthalmol 2022;70:3253-4.

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