Nursing and Twitter: Creating an Online Community Using Hashtags

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Collegian (2014) 21, 103—109

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

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j ournal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coll

Nursing and Twitter: Creating an online community using hashtags

a,∗ b

Calvin R. Moorley , Teresa Chinn

Faculty of Health and Social Care, Adult Nursing, London Southbank University, United Kingdom

WeNurses, United Kingdom

Received 30 December 2013; received in revised form 14 March 2014; accepted 19 March 2014

KEYWORDS Summary Social media is becoming a facet of our lives and a tool for connecting, uniting

and supporting people. Its use is growing in nursing, medical and health settings. This article

Online nursing

community; describes the process, development and growth of an online community to connect nurses via

WeNurses; Twitter using hashtags. Data was analysed to identify the beneﬁts, barriers and enablers for

the creation of an online nursing community. Methods consisted of key word searches in Twitter

Social media;

Twitter; relevant to nursing, visits to the WeNurses website and tracking the number of followers on the

website. A social media monitoring tool (SM2) was used to monitor visibility to establish baseline

Tweet Hashtags

Nursing data and identify trends. WeNurses was launched in July 2012 and has over 7000 followers. Visits

to the website are between 500 and 1500 each day.

The use of a systematic nursing approach including the key principles of both nursing and

social media (honesty, transparency, listening and reacting) helped to create and develop an

online nursing community. It was found that WeNurses provides a platform for nurses to discuss

issues in nursing, or complain about reforms. Nurses are free to question on how they can

improve skills and contemplate their understanding of changes in the health service. Enablers

included a committed group who openly discussed their thoughts, opinions and practices, a

shared identity, an understanding each other’s perspective and ownership by members. Using

a nursing framework in a digital space added a unique dimension that resonated with members

and provided a structured approach to the project. Nurses have begun to not only embrace social

media but also use it for their own development. Health employers also need to encourage use

of social media to help develop expertise, experience and knowledge in nurses and nursing

practice. Social media can provide a social and professional space for nurses, and has potential

to inﬂuence the health and wellness of different population groups involved in both giving and

receiving nursing care.

∗

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 7905688848.

E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (C.R. Moorley).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2014.03.003

104 C.R. Moorley, T. Chinn

Introduction (also known as agency or locum nurse) in England. In her

role Teresa experienced isolation predominately because

her time in any one ward was temporary and she was gen-

The use of social media is expanding in nursing, medical and

erally not considered to be part of the nursing team. She

health settings. This paper focuses on how Twitter was used

wanted to connect with other nurses who had similar expe-

to create an online nursing community. It outlines and dis-

riences and to create a support network. She used social

cusses how a Twitter community has developed and grown

media to try and achieve this goal through WeNurses.

over three time periods. It also highlights how an online nurs-

On Twitter the use of a hashtag (#) allows everyone,

ing community can positively support nurses and encourage

regardless of geographical location, to view what is being

learning through shared knowledge and clinical experience

discussed on a particular topic (see Box 1) and chat with each

via Twitter chats.

other. Once a topic has a hashtag preceding it for example;

The development of online communities using social

if there was a chat on breast cancer you would search for

media in the ﬁeld of health and social care has emerged

#breastcancer and everyone can see and participate in the

as a driving force in healthcare. Twitter and Facebook are

chat. The important part to remember is the addition of the

used, by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Department

hashtag (#) because without the hashtag (#) those involved

of Health UK (DH), Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Nursing

in the chat will not be able to view individual contributions.

and Midwifery Council UK (NMC) and other numerous local

#WeNurses was used to bind the scheduled chats. The

online communities such as the Evidence Based Nursing Jour-

aim was to connect, support and develop a nurse commu-

nal Club and Nursing Times Chat. Social media is becoming

nity by hosting real time Twitter chats (see Learning Box

a facet of our lives and a tool for connecting, uniting and

1). The chats covered a range of nursing topics includ-

supporting people. This is also true for nursing and there is

ing Sepsis, Safeguarding Adults and Nursing, Transferring

a call for nurses to engage in social media (Ferguson, 2013).

Patients, Addiction and Transparency in Care. Some dis-

To achieve this, a medium for dialogue and engagement

cussions were hosted in collaboration with other healthcare

of nurses of all branches (Adult, Mental Health, Learning

professionals (pharmacists, paramedics) and organisations,

Disability and Children) and at all levels (Student nurses,

locally and nationally (including NHS England, Department

Registered nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Managers and

of Health, Care Quality Commission, NHS Leeds, Foundation

Deans of Nursing Faculties) needs to be in place.

of Nursing Studies, and NHS Fluﬁghter). WeNurses Twitter

chats allowed a free ﬂow of ideas, experiences, expertise,

Background knowledge and resources between nurses other healthcare

professionals and the wider community.

In July 2012 WeNurses, a real time Twitter based discussion For an online community to be successful, social media

group for nurses, was launched. WeNurses was developed engagement needs to be maximised. WeNurses uses Twitter

by Teresa Chinn a registered nurse (adult branch) in England as its main platform together with a website, Facebook,

as a result of her experience working as a temporary nurse Pinterest, Prezi, Vimeo and Storify. Each of these feed into

Box 1 Deﬁnition of frequently used terms in social media.

Term Deﬁnition

Tweet A 140 character message sent via Twitter

Twitter handle The unique name of each individual Twitter user. This always starts with an ‘‘@’’ e.g. @WeNurses

Follower Someone who follows your account on Twitter and therefore subscribes to your tweets

Retweet A Retweet or ‘‘RT’’ is the reposting of someone else’s tweet — this may be done when the tweet

is of particular interest and you want to share it further.

Hashtag A hashtag ‘‘#’’ is a way of marking or ﬂagging up key words or topics on Twitter so that people

talking around these subjects can ﬁnd each other.

Real time Twitter chat A discussion that happens using Twitter, usually around a predetermined subject at a

predetermined time. There is no time delay in the conversation or responses and they usually

take place over an hour and use a hashtag ‘‘#’’ to make them easy to ﬁnd.

Lurker A lurker is someone who just watches on Twitter they do not send any Tweets but they gain value

from listening and watching.

Troll A troll is a person who tries to sow discord by posting comments in an online community to

disrupt or upset that community. They often try to hijack chats with off the topic comments.

They often try to hijack trending topics to maximise their beneﬁts.

Trending Trending occurs when a topic or chat is recognised as being popular and uses a # this can be for

any time period a hour, day, week, etc.

Word cloud A word cloud is a way of visualising popular and prominent words within text, whether that is

Twitter or any other digital text.

Storify Storify is a web-based tool that enables the collation and storing of social media content,

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