Vincent Rajkumar, Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Editor‑in‑Chief at Blood Cancer Journal, shared a post on X:
“For ASH25 attendees
I’ve been on this platform for 16 years. Here are some tips on how to be productive and gain influence and credibility on X.
- Highlight new information, but also give your take on it as well. That’s what makes the content interesting.
- Be active almost on a daily basis. This is important.
- Writing is an art; writing on Twitter is more so. Being simple and succinct is not easy. Keep at it.
- Post some pics and some fun non-medical stuff now and then. You need to show your personality.
- Only retweet content that you endorse. My retweets are always endorsements. (A like is like a mild retweet)
- Use bookmarks for saving tweets to be read in the future. Don’t use the like button for this purpose. (I’m still struggling to comply with this! Old habits)
- Critique, but don’t make your posts all negative. Be balanced. Assume positive intent. Your colleagues are also trying to do the right thing. It’s not easy to do a perfect study.
- Avoid personal attacks at all costs
- Don’t reply or engage with anyone who goes after you or attacks you. Engaging is amplifying. It’s not worth it.
- Mute accounts that cause you distress. Liberally. You want to have a peaceful life. Block accounts if it’s really bothering you.
- Engage with friends and colleagues with replies. Reply to those who reply to your tweet if possible.
- Toggle your timeline to ‘Following’, not ‘For You’, to make sure you see content from people you follow and not random stuff. There’s a lot of it on here.
- While it’s ok to give your general take on a particular medical condition, avoid providing direct medical advice on here. I can elaborate more on how to approach this very frequent situation here.
- Be kind and respectful. It’s very tempting to be snarky at times. Resist the urge. It’s in writing and permanent, so not worth it.
- Follow the right people.
- Posting content with pics or videos creates more engagement than text alone.
- Make it clear on your profile that these are solely your personal opinions, unless you are posting in an official or institutional capacity.
- Have fun
When used well, Twitter is an incredible platform for medicine. To learn and disseminate content, keep up to date, connect with colleagues, make new friends with people in diverse fields, and more.”
More posts featuring Vincent Rajkumar.