title: Online Discussion on #KidneyStones: A Longitudinal Assessment of Activity, Users and Content.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Twitter is a popular microblogging platform for the rapid dissemination of information and reciprocal exchange in the urological field. We aimed to assess the activity, users and content of the online discussion, #KidneyStones, on Twitter.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the Symplur Signals analytics tool for Twitter data distributed via the #KidneyStones hashtag over a one year period. Activity analysis reflected overall activity and tweet enhancements. We assessed users' geolocations and performed an influencer analysis. Content analysis included the most frequently used words, tweet sentiment and shares for top tweets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  3,426 users generated over 10,333 tweets, which were frequently accompanied by links (49%), mentions (30%) and photos (13%). Users came from 106 countries across the globe and were most frequently from North America (63%) and Europe (16%). Individual and organisational healthcare professionals made up 56% of the influencers of the Twitter discussion on #KidneyStones. Besides the words 'kidney' (used 4,045 times) and 'stones' (3,335), 'pain' (1,233), 'urine' (1,158), and 'risk' (1,023) were the most frequently used words. 56% of tweets had a positive sentiment. The median (range) number of shares was 85 (62-587) for the top 10 links, 45.5 (17-94) for the top 10 photos, and 44 (22-95) for the top 10 retweets.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rapidly growing Twitter discussion on #KidneyStones engaged multiple stakeholders in the healthcare sector on a global scale and reached both professionals and laypeople. When used effectively and responsibly, the Twitter platform could improve prevention and medical care of kidney stone patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0528-9291
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Medicine, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Borgmann
authors.affiliation: Stone Unit, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bultitude
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Caritas St Josef Hospital, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Martin
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Fritsche
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Medicine, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haferkamp
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heidenreich
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Arkadiusz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miernik
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Medicine, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neisius
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Klinikum Sindelfingen-Böblingen, Sindelfingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Knoll
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Medicine, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Medicine, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tsaur
mesh_terms: D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007669:Kidney Calculi / Q000453:epidemiology; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D061108:Social Media; D012944:Social Support