Social media practices on Twitter : maximising the impact of cardiac associations

Twitter is a social media platform often used by cardiac professional associations to engage and inform their members and the public. However, the effectiveness of the strategy is seldom assessed or published.Aim:This study evaluates the Twitter activities of nine cardiac professional associations. Each organisation's purpose and stakeholders were described individually and classified. Extracted Tweets (n=3920) were content-analysed and metrics were determined.Results:There was alignment between the associations' mission statements and their Twitter activities. However, most Tweets were one-directional, disseminating research-based evidence/professional education materials and communicating association events and activities, as well as using hashtags to enable searching.Conclusion:Social media communication by cardiac professional associations through Tweets is an important activity; however, at present, the use of dialogue and conversations are not fully realised and could be used more strategically.