Prostate cancer and social media

The use of social media is increasing globally and is employed in a variety of ways in the prostate cancer community. In addition to their use in research, advocacy, and awareness campaigns, social media offer vast opportunities for education and networking for patients with prostate cancer and health-care professionals, and many educational resources and support networks are available to patients with prostate cancer and their caregivers. Despite the considerable potential for social media to be employed in the field of prostate cancer, concerns remain — particularly regarding the maintenance of patient confidentiality, variable information quality, and possible financial conflicts of interest. A number of professional societies have, therefore, issued guidance regarding social media use in medicine. Social media are used extensively in other cancer communities, particularly among patients with breast cancer, and both the quantity and type of information available are expected to grow in the future.Key pointsSocial media are employed in various ways in the prostate cancer community, including research, advocacy, education, networking for patients and health-care professionals, and support for patients and their caregivers.Although the use of social media, especially Twitter, in the prostate cancer community has been steadily increasing, it still lags behind the use in other cancers, especially breast cancer.Most major medical meetings now have their own hashtag, and standardized hashtags have also been created for particular disease states through the Urology Tag Ontology Project.Online journal clubs hosted on Twitter enable real-time discussion of new research and sharing of information and experiences regardless of geographical location and time zone.A number of concerns remain regarding social media use, particularly around maintenance of patient confidentiality, variable information quality, and possible financial conflicts of interest.Some institutions or departments have specific restrictions or policies on social media to encourage professional and appropriate use, and guidelines for proper use of social media have been produced by professional societies including the American Urological Association and European Association of Urology.Social media offer varied opportunities for education and networking for patients with prostate cancer and health-care professionals, as well as potential uses in research, advocacy, and awareness campaigns. In this Review, leaders in the field discuss social media in prostate cancer and consider the obstacles and potential for their use in the future.