Effect of Promotion via Social Media on Access of Articles in an Academic Medical Journal: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Robert Jay Widmer · Jayawant N. Mandrekar · Angelina Ward · Lee A. Aase · William L. Lanier · Farris K. Timimi +1 more

70 citations0/0 files storedAcademic Medicine

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Academic Publishing and Open Access scientometrics and bibliometrics research Social Media in Health Education

Abstract

PURPOSE: To study the effect of a planned social media promotion strategy on access of online articles in an established academic medical journal. METHOD: This was a single-masked, randomized controlled trial using articles published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a large-circulation general/internal medicine journal. Articles published during the months of October, November, and December 2015 (n = 68) were randomized to social media promotion (SoMe) using Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn or to no social media promotion (NoSoMe), for 30 days (beginning with the date of online article publication). Journal website visits and full-text article downloads were compared for 0-30 and 31-60 days following online publication between SoMe versus NoSoMe using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test. RESULTS: Website access of articles from 0 to 30 days was significantly higher in the SoMe group (n = 34) compared with the NoSoMe group (n = 34): 1,070 median downloads versus 265, P < .001. Similarly, full-text article downloads from 0-30 days were significantly higher in the SoMe group: 1,042 median downloads versus 142, P < .001. Compared with the NoSoMe articles, articles randomized to SoMe received a greater number of website visits via Twitter (90 vs 1), Facebook (526 vs 2.5), and LinkedIn (31.5 vs 0)-all P < .001. CONCLUSIONS: Articles randomized to SoMe were more widely accessed compared with those without social media promotion. These findings show a possible role, benefit, and need for further study of a carefully planned social media promotion strategy in an academic medical journal.

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2011Can Tweets Predict Citations? Metrics of Social Impact Based on Twitter and Correlation with Traditional Metrics of Scientific Impact 2015Characterizing Social Media Metrics of Scholarly Papers: The Effect of Document Properties and Collaboration Patterns 2013Social Media and Clinical Care 2014A Randomized Trial of Social Media From Circulation

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