title: The Current Use of Social Media in Neurosurgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure the presence and popularity of neurosurgical departments, journals, and nonprofit organizations on 3 major social networks.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic 2-pronged search strategy was used in June 2015 to identify all accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube that were relevant to neurosurgery. Online search was conducted by 2 independent authors. All accounts were ranked according to their popularity data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our search yielded 158 social media accounts (86 Facebook, 59 Twitter, and 13 YouTube) of neurosurgical private and academic practice departments. Of the 158 accounts we retrieved, 117 were for private practice centers (74%). Accounts of academic and private departments had a similar median number of "likes" and "followers" on Facebook and Twitter, respectively. Seven neurosurgical journals only had active Facebook and Twitter accounts (of 20 screened journals). When compared with studies of social media in other medical subspecialties, the use of these networks in neurosurgery followed a similar pattern in their presence and popularity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study shows different uses of social media platforms and numbers of users of the online neurosurgical community. Content optimization, advanced metrics of user engagement, and their subsequent effects on academic impact remain unanswered queries and require further prospective study.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Neurosurgery, National Neuroscience Institute, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Naif M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Alotaibi
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jetan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Badhiwala
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Farshad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nassiri
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Daipayan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guha
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Mohammed F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Shamji
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: lozano@uhnresearch.ca.
authors.forename: Andres M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lozano
mesh_terms: D058015:Health Communication; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000069471:Neurosurgeons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011331:Private Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Facebook; Neurosurgery; Social media; Twitter; YouTube