DaVita® Medical Insights

Social Media Guide for #KidneyWk

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2019 will be held Nov. 5-10, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Over 13,000 nephrologists from around the world come together annually to share new knowledge and innovative research to contribute toward providing the highest quality treatments for patients.

Over 2,500 Twitter users contributed nearly 19,000 tweets during Kidney Week 2018 using the official #KidneyWk hashtag and even more are expected to join in the conversation this year.

ASN welcomes live-tweeting and sharing of ASN Kidney Week meeting content on social media channels as a way to share information throughout social networks. All presentations will be available for sharing on social media channels, unless otherwise requested by speaker, per ASN’s social media policy.

Attendees may choose to share content through various methods:

  • Tweetorials – a series of tweets published together for educational purposes
  • Multimedia – photographs and videos of presentation slides, posters, presenters and colleagues at the meeting
  • Twitter polls – requests for answers from followers on topics pertaining to ASN Kidney Week
  • Research graphics – snapshots of research being presented during conference to engage followers and entice them to find the poster during poster sessions

Leveraging social media channels and tools during conferences like ASN Kidney Week is extremely important as it allows the research and education from the event to reach more than the in-person attendees. The Twitter content shared from users last year had a total potential reach of more than 4.6 million users. Dr. Samira Farouk (@ssfarouk) has emphasized how easily the global nephrology community can be accessed through social media channels for clinical questions, to share education and to learn how medicine is practiced around the world.

Some attendees use ASN Kidney Week as a time to connect with Twitter followers they have yet to meet in person and others look forward to reconnecting with those they only see once or a few times a year. Nephrologists who are beginning to create a community in preparation for ASN Kidney Week may want to attend the Nephrology Journal Club Twitter chats and follow users who participate in them. Hundreds of nephrologists connect on Twitter twice a month to discuss various topics by using the #NephJC hashtag. One of the journal club’s co-founders, Dr. Joel Topf (@kidney_boy) shared in a DaVita Medical Insights podcast that this is an effective way to connect with other nephrologists on Twitter and become involved with important industry topics. Those interested in participating, may subscribe to the NephJC newsletter to receive chat details delivered weekly. NephJC also hosts a tweet-up event during Kidney Week.

One recommended social media tool to leverage is Twitter lists, where users can create their own lists or subscribe to lists that others created containing selected accounts to view a custom stream of tweets. Lists help cut down the noise from a user’s timeline and show only tweets from the individuals on specific lists. For example, ASN Kidney Week attendees may want to create lists including nephrology thought leaders they would like to hear from at the meeting.

Another useful tool to utilize at ASN Kidney Week is the drafts feature on Twitter. Preview the posters you are most interested in, as well as identify the key takeaways from your research and create drafts of that content. This can be done easily in the Twitter iPhone and Android phone app by writing a tweet and clicking “cancel” or the X then “save draft.” Drafts are then accessible and editable by clicking the tweet icon on the homepage. This feature helps for quick live-sharing during events.

A diverse set of education, innovation and research is shared annually at the ASN Kidney Week meeting and by joining the conversation on Twitter, users can help amplify these findings and further encourage the advancement of kidney health.  With the meeting less than a month away, it is time to plan out the type of content you would like to tweet and make sure that you are following nephrology thought leaders on Twitter. Do not forget to use hashtag #KidneyWk when sharing content that pertains to ASN Kidney Week before, during and after the event.

See you on Twitter!

Managing Editor