title: Blurred lines: the General Medical Council guidance on doctors and social media .
abstract: Digital technology in the early 21st century has introduced significant changes to everyday life and the ways in which we practise medicine. It is important that the ease and practicality of accessing and disseminating information does not intrude on the high standards expected of doctors, and that the boundaries between professional and public life do not become blurred through the increasing adoption of social media. This said, as with any such profound disruption, the social media age could be responsible for driving a new understanding of what it means to be a medical professional.
authors.affiliation: University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cork
authors.affiliation: OCDEM Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK, and editor-in-chief, British Journal of Diabetes.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D010820:Physicians; D061108:Social Media
keywords: GMC; Social media; Twitter; good medical practice; ­professionalism