Health IT

Hospitals still yet to get a following on Twitter?

There are no Ashton Kutcher’s in health care, according to a review of the popularity of hospitals on Twitter.

By Chris Seper on August 14, 2009

There are no Ashton Kutcher’s in health care, according to a review of the popularity of hospitals on Twitter. Here’s a list of the 20 most followed hospitals.

  1. Mayo Clinic  – @mayoclinic – [6,626]
  2. Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center – @Aurora_Health – [4,659]
  3. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – @StJude -  [3,442]
  4. Children’s National Medical Center – @childrenshealth – [3,030]
  5. Scripps Memorial Hospital – @ScrippsHealth – [2,947]
  6. Children’s Medical Center Dallas – @ChildrensTheOne – [2,816]
  7. Henry Ford Hospital – @HenryFordNews -[2,689]
  8. University of Maryland Medical Center – @ummc – [2,596]
  9. UNC Health Care – @UNC_Health_Care – [2,582]
  10. Seattle Children’s Hospital – @seattlechildren – [2,551]
  11. University of Michigan Health System – @UMHealthSystem – [2,526]
  12. Sherman Health – @ShermanHealth – [2,472]
  13. University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics – @uwhealth – [2,446]
  14. Cleveland Clinic CME – @cleveclinic_cme – [2,440]
  15. DMC Detroit Medical Center – @DMC_heals – [2,270]
  16. Ohio State University Hospital – @OSUMC – [2,164]
  17. Lifebridge Health – @LBHealth – [2,064]
  18. University of Tennessee Medical Center – @utmedicalcenter – [1,854]
  19. Phoenix Children’s Hospital – @PhxChildrens – [1,800]
  20. Mercy Health System – @mercyhealth – [1,760]

We’ve written quite a bit about how social media and an overall Web strategy are more and more important to hospitals. So it’s notable how little traction medical institutions have with Twitter. Dr. Ves Dimov points out that individual doctors have broader Twitter followings than many of the most popular hospitals. Med-blogger KevinMD has more Twitter followers than any hospital, and if Dimov were a hospital his followers would make him 15th on this list.

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There are likely three reasons for the lack of traction. The first is content. Most hospitals, at this point, are using Twitter as they would an e-newsletter or an RSS feed to distribute press release headlines or promote sections of their own site.

The second reason is payoff. It’s clear now how a hospital Web site can attract patients, build a reputation and revenue, and attract employees. But it’s not clear how Twitter is best used. Maybe it’s for handing out hospital headlines, continuing medical education, an extension of jobs board or a better way to gather feedback on local construction projects.

Lastly, Twitter is social and personal — something that’s much easier for an individual doctor to become rather than an institution. Hospitals may be better served setting up accounts for high-profile doctors and managing those accounts, rather than trying to gain followers for an institution.