---
title: "Psych News Alert: Physicians' Love Affair With Social Media Outpaces Public's"
description: Survey data compiled early in 2010 showed that 41.6% of physicians said they were social-media users, but a trickle quickly became a torrent...
---

[Psych News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org)

# [Psych News Alert: Physicians' Love Affair With Social Media Outpaces Public's](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/physicians-love-affair-with-social.html)

 Written by [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) | 6/24/24 3:16 PM

<https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/social%20media%20words_35688229-Jun-24-2025-03-53-16-1151-PM.jpg> 

Survey data compiled early in 2010 showed that 41.6% of physicians said they were social-media users, but a trickle quickly became a torrent. Data from a survey in April and May of this year indicated that 84% of physicians have joined the social-media bandwagon, saying that they use Facebook, LinkedIn, and their relatives for personal purposes, and by last month that figure had soared to 90%. For the general public, in contrast, social media are being used by 65%, according to a report posted September 26 on amednews.com, the Web site of *American Medical News.*

Physicians' embrace of social media does not, however, mean that it has changed the way the vast majority practice medicine. The most recent survey, by QuantiaMD, found that only 67% used social media professionally, and physicians seem to be reluctant to use these sites as a way to communicate with patients. One-third said they had received requests to "friend" a patient on Facebook, but of those, 75% did not accept those invitations.

To read about psychiatrists' use of social media, including potential pitfalls, see *Psychiatric News* at [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/17/6.full](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/17/6.full) and [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/11/12.full](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/11/12.full).

(Image: Kheng Guan Toh/ Shutterstock.com)

[View full post](https://alert.psychnews.org/2011/09/physicians-love-affair-with-social.html)

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