Social networking sites: emerging and essential tools for communication in dermatology.

IMPORTANCE: The use of social media by dermatology journals and professional and patient-centered dermatology organizations remains largely unknown and, to our knowledge, has yet to be fully evaluated.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and quantify the extent of involvement of dermatology journals, professional dermatology organizations, and dermatology-related patient advocate groups on social networking sites.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We obtained an archived list of 102 current dermatology journals from SCImago on the World Wide Web and used the list to investigate Facebook, Twitter, and individual journal websites for the presence of social media accounts. We identified professional and patient-centered dermatology organization activity on social networks through queries of predetermined search terms on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The activity of each entity was documented by recording the following metrics of popularity: the numbers of Facebook "likes," Twitter "followers," and LinkedIn "members."

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The numbers of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn members corresponding to each dermatology journal and each professional and patient-related dermatology organization.

RESULTS: On July 17, 2012, of the 102 dermatology journals ranked by SCImago, 12.7% were present on Facebook and 13.7% on Twitter. We identified popular dermatology journals based on Facebook likes and Twitter followers, led by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and Dermatology Times, respectively. Popular professional dermatology organizations included dermRounds Dermatology Network (11 251 likes on Facebook and 2900 followers on Twitter). The most popular dermatology patient-centered organizations were the Skin Cancer Foundation (20 119 likes on Facebook), DermaTalk (21 542 followers on Twitter), and the National Psoriasis Foundation (200 members on LinkedIn).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Patient-centered and professional dermatology organizations use social networking sites; however, academic journals tend to lag behind significantly. Although some journals are active in social media, most have yet to recognize the potential benefits of fully embracing popular social networks.