Utilization and perception of live-blogging coverage of an international manual physical therapy conference.

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the utilization and perception of live blogged sessions of a physical therapy (PT) conference. Methods : Sessions at an international PT conference were covered in real time using a live-blogging platform. Session coverage could be viewed remotely using computers and mobile devices. Viewers could interact with the content by clicking on links and using the comment feature. Sessions could also be replayed following their conclusion. An online survey of user perceptions was made available the week following the conference. Results : Twenty-four sessions were live blogged with an average session length of 67 min (range: 27-120). On average, live sessions received 27 views (range: 2-65), 18 clicks (range: 2-36), and 2 comments (range: 0-10). The average time spent viewing a live session was 28 min (32% of viewers <1 min; 68% >1 min). Following the conference, session replays totaled 7206 views and 2910 clicks. The average survey respondent ( n  = 17) watched five live sessions (range: 1-17) and found the updates easy to read (4.5 on a scale of 5.0). When asked if they learned something from the coverage, 94% of respondents said yes and 94% said they would view if available for an upcoming conference. Discussion : Live blogging extended the viewing audience and facilitated viewer engagement. Survey respondents found the coverage educational, of high quality, and would participate again in the future.