Of the 62 Twitter users, 50 (81%) health care professionals stopped using Twitter within six months of completing the module, although Twitter activity continued with 12 (19%) health care professionals, many of whom used it for both academic and social purposes. Among the topics covered in YouTube videos were: several different aspects of diabetes and macrovascular complications; a ‘one-to-one’

discussion on hypertension and cardiovascular disease; a ‘to camera’ piece on the links between diabetes and erectile selleck dysfunction; and, from an overseas student, a thought-provoking video on the burden of diabetes in South Africa, contrasting the levels of care available in the private and public sectors. The most popular YouTube video was entitled ‘Vascular

assessment of the lower limb and clinical diagnostics’ which had been viewed 1274 times by Bortezomib concentration August 2012. Of those who elected to create a Twitter account, the most active user had tweeted 257 times with 74 followers and following 86 other accounts. The least active Twitter user only tweeted six times but had secured 28 followers and was following 81 Twitter users. Data for 2010 and 2011 students are shown in Figure 1. Although there was a higher number of tweets posted by students in 2011 compared with students in 2010, the number of accounts that they followed, and the number of followers they attracted, many were broadly similar. In total, 13 (15%) health care professionals responded to an online questionnaire, four having selected YouTube and nine, Twitter (Figure 2). Eight students reported apprehension before embarking on the task but all expressed a sense of achievement and confidence in use of social media upon completion. Participants agreed that the assignment had changed their perception of social media, and that they could visualise

how it would be useful to them in their own practice, although one student expressed concern that using social media to communicate with patients could lead to urgent medical information not being acted upon within an appropriate timeframe. The exponential growth in internet use and, specifically, the rise in the use of social media including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and similar channels that enable users to generate their own content and share with a vast audience have prompted many health care professionals to utilise this media for education4 as well as patient communication.9 As the intent of our postgraduate qualification is to enhance clinical expertise and improve patient care, we elected to incorporate social media within a postgraduate diabetes diploma and endeavour to assess its success.