A short irreverent history of how the European Society of Cardiology fell in love with Twitter. An ePatient perspective

1. How the ESC learned to stop
worrying and love Twitter
A short irreverent
history from
an ePatient
perspective

2. ESC 2014
Twitter fear
& loathing

3. ‘‘‘
*ESC 2014: Needed a prompt to
register #ESCCongress with
Symplur…yet did not actively
promote

4. ‘‘‘
*ESC 2014: Hashtag mayhem
#ESCCongress vs #ESC2014
Conchita Wurst
Winner of the 2014
Eurovision Song Contest

5. I do not see how a non-professional can be
tweeting/reporting as an independent observer
from a professionals-only congress!
I need to check internally…whether we want to
initiate/encourage this [Twitter] messaging and
reporting to the patient world.’
Christine Gouillard-Poulsen
Head of ESC Congress scientific programme
21.3.2014
‘‘‘
*ESC 2014: Sadly, not exactly
patient-empathetic
‘

6. ‘‘‘
*
ESC 2014: At least aware of
the need for change
First Twitter reporting
training programme
https://www.slideshare.net/lenstarnes/esc-congresssc-congress-
14-on-site-twitter-reporter-training-final24-aug

7. 0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
11,000
2,200
4,444
25,549
31,208
45,073
27,509
12,159
8,556
5,375
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Source: symplur.com
Tweets
Unique users
Change drivers: Over 5-fold
increase in #ESCCongress
participants 2013-17

8. Change drivers: Growth in SoMe
adoption ESC vs AHA
https://www.symplur.com/entropy/tweet-activity-comparison-esc-aha-2016/

9. Change drivers: Growth in med
conf SoMe adoption worldwide
https://www.symplur.com/entropy/adoption-twitter-healthcare-conferences-continues/

10. Change drivers: Strategy
…major changes are
expected in the way
in which congresses
are funded, and
in audience
demographics
and preferences’
ESC Strategic Plan 2016-20
http://www.kardio-cz.cz/data/upload/novinky/ESC-StrategicPlan-March2016.pdf
https://www.slideshare.net/lenstarnes/future-of-med-confs-final-11-dec-2013
‘

11. Change drivers: Congresses are
a focus area of the Strategic Plan
ESC Strategic Plan 2016-20
http://www.kardio-cz.cz/data/upload/novinky/ESC-StrategicPlan-March2016.pdf

12. Assemble and disseminate
hashtags pertinent to
CV diseases
Enables HCPs, patients & family
members to organize discussions
surrounding CV medicine in an
effort to keep the interest of the
patient foremost
https://blog.acc.org/post/cardiology-ontology-using-hashtags-improve-cvd-care/
Change drivers: The
Cardiology Hashtag Ontology
https://www.symplur.com/blog/cardiology-hashtag-ontology/
Objective
Benefits

13. Change drivers: 43 cardiology
hashtags tracked in real-time
https://www.symplur.com/blog/cardiology-hashtag-ontology/

14. Change drivers: Ability to
observe trending topics
https://www.symplur.com/blog/cardiology-hashtag-ontology/

15. Change drivers: Engagement
surge at #ESCCongress 2017

16. https://www.symplur.com/entropy/doctors-tweeting-european-society-cardiology-congress/
Change drivers: In 2017
almost 50% more doctors used
Twitter cf 2016

17. Change drivers: +ve feedback

18. Change drivers: An enthusiastic
& Twitter-savvy ESC president
https://twitter.com/escardio/status/902847135741341696
Social media is
the driving force
at ESC Congress
2017’
‘

19. Change drivers: Learning to meet
the expectations of ESC members

20. Change drivers: ESC members
are looking forward to the
next TweetChat

21. ESC 2018
Full-on
Twitter
love affair

22. A first: ESC encourages Twitter use
& publishes Twitter Guidelines
for #ESCCongress 2018
in Munich

23. http://image.info.escardio.org/lib/fe89127277620d7570/m/10/559923e4-9292-40dd-80f0-ed1041dd006c.pdf
It s a start - but why, oh why, no
mention of ontology hashtags to
share news and science globally?
‘

24. ESC homework for 2019: Study
the #ASCO18 SoMe Guidelines…
and join the fast lane
https://am.asco.org/your-social-media-guide-asco18-0

25. PROST

26. Len Starnes
Len Starnes is an independent digital healthcare consultant
and ePatient who has been following, learning from, and
commenting on ESC Congresses since 2009.
He is a founding signatory of the PATIENTS INCLUDED CHARTERS
initiative which encourages and supports active patient
participation at medical conferences:
patientsincluded.org
#patientsincluded
lenstarnes@gmail.com
T: + 49 30 781 5513
M: + 49 172 1788253
Skype: lenstarnes
www.linkedin.com/in/lenstarnes
www.twitter.com/lenstarnes
www.slideshare.net/lenstarnes