Twitter has become an important tool for health professionals to share and exchange information about mental health issues. The use of hashtags, such as #PsychTwitter, has been shown to promote content and provide a rich data source for public health observation. To evaluate the impact of psychiatry-related tweets using #PsychTwitter, a new study was conducted.
The study used the Symplur Signals research analytics tool to analyze tweets containing #PsychTwitter from August 20, 2019, to August 20, 2022. Symplur Signals is a tool designed for the analysis of healthcare conversations on social media platforms. It provides detailed analytics and insights into the reach and impact of specific hashtags and users.
The results of the study showed that the #PsychTwitter movement generated 125,297 tweets that were shared by 40,058 Twitter users. These tweets generated a total of 492,565,230 impressions (views). The three largest groups of contributors were Doctors (13.8% of all tweets), Org. Advocacy (6.2% of all tweets), and Researcher/Academic (4% of all tweets) stakeholders. The top influential accounts included 55 psychiatrists and 16 institutional or organizational accounts.
The top 5 countries where most of the tweets containing #PsychTwitter were shared were the United States (54.3% of all users), the United Kingdom (10.4% of all users), Canada (4.9% of all users), India (2% of all users), and Australia (1.8% of all users).
This study represents the first of its kind to evaluate the influence and usage of #PsychTwitter and its global impact in the field of psychiatry using the Twitter platform. The results indicate that Twitter is a widely used platform for mental health-related discussions and highlights the importance of tools like Symplur Signals for understanding and reporting on these conversations.