Is TikTok the New Instagram? #Analysis of Plastic Surgeons on Social Media
Vaishali Ravikumar, BS, Kailash Kapadia, MD, Margaret Dalena, BS, Edward S. Lee, MD.
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
BACKGROUND: Social media has proven to be an important and developing resource for plastic surgeons and their patients. Patients commonly consult social media prior to physician visits, and plastic surgeons with greater social media following are displayed higher on Google searches. TikTok is a new, short-form video application that boasts more than 800 million users worldwide, the majority of which are between the age of 16 and 24 years. It has been utilized by many medical professionals, plastic surgeons included. Our study aims to examine the use of TikTok amongst plastic surgeons and compare it to Instagram, a well-established media platform, in order to guide providers and consumers on how to navigate and engage with the ever-changing social media landscape.
METHODS: The term “plastic surgeon” was queried on TikTok. Only accounts of verifiable, US-based, board certified plastic surgeons were included in our study. Data was collected regarding the number of followers and posts on TikTok and Instagram. Additionally, 23 plastic surgery-related hashtags were generated and the top 5 posts for each hashtag were analyzed on each platform using the search feature. Statistical analysis included Pearson X2 and t-tests.
RESULTS: 183 TikTok accounts were identified. 22 out of 183 (12%) were board certified plastic surgeons and met our inclusion criteria. All identified surgeons had an Instagram account. Geographically, 54% were from the South, 18% from the Northeast, 9% from the West, and 9% from the Midwest. 85% of surgeons were male and 15% were female. The average number of followers per time on TikTok and Instagram were 561 and 47, respectively (p=0.15). On analysis of hashtags, TikTok had a significantly greater mean total engagement per post of 332,220 than Instagram of 806 (p<0.01). Healthcare providers on TikTok had significantly more “humorous” (33% vs 9%) and “educational” (29% vs 3%) posts than Instagram (p <0.01). Instagram had significantly more “self-promotional” (26% vs 8%) and “personal” (15% vs 0%) posts than TikTok (p<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that plastic surgeons with existing experience on social media, like Instagram, are using TikTok as a creative way to present content. While further research is needed to study this topic, TikTok may be a novel addition to a plastic surgeon's social media presence; it holds the potential to engage a greater audience and provide educational content to a younger population in comparison to Instagram.
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