Social media can be defined as any online venue which allows communication amongst groups of individuals through the use of text, images, audio, video, or live broadcasting. Another name commonly used is “user generated content” (UGC), which on social media is easily created, disseminated, and accessed by members of the group. A 2014 study by the Pew Research Center showed that 74 % of all online adults used some social networking platform [1]. The most popular of these platforms is Facebook™, with 1.59 billion monthly active users [1].

desmond.huynh@icahn.mssm.edu; bpjacob@gmail.com

Many investigations into ways to improve continuing medi­cal education (CME) courses highlight moving away from a lecture-based framework and fostering a more interactive and collaborative learning environment. The social aspects of learning and the improved cognitive processing which is known to occur when knowledge is imparted in a more social context are becoming more widely discussed in the age of social media and increasing global interconnectivity [10]. Some of the top critiques physicians have for CME programs are that they lack interactivity and that the material being taught is inapplicable to their clinical practice [11].

A qualitative study looking at the European Workshop of Advanced Plastic Surgery (EWAPS), a forum that meets yearly for the discussion of new developments in their field and continuing education, investigated factors which might contribute to improving CME program effectiveness [10]. EWAPS meetings are closed, meaning that only members could attend, and physicians had to be invited by the board to become a member. Members came from different countries and had varying levels of experience in plastic surgery. Interviews with participants revealed that the environment of trusted colleagues whom they got to know year after year through the forum enabled them to feel more comfortable having an open discussion where people were willing to expose their weaknesses with the understanding that they would not be judged, but rather given advice to improve. Also cited by the participants as a positive, learning­promoting aspect of the EWAPS meetings was the format of presentations in which speakers gave a prompting presenta­tion of no more than 3 min, with a 12-min discussion follow­ing [10]. The emphasis on interactive processing of information and collaborative dissection of meaning engaged participants, keeping their interest and attention.

When physicians have questions or a difficult case, they usu­ally consult information in medical resources—textbooks, lit­erature reviews, sources like UpToDate™. This lacks the benefit of being interactive; one cannot ask specific questions in which the source will take into account all the specific parameters of the case at the same time. The IHC connects users with thousands of physicians around the world who may have many more years of experience with particular tech­niques, chronic groin pain, postoperative infection manage­ment, etc. Drawing on the experience of others who have logged similar cases focuses the discussion on the evidence most relevant to the case. Members who practice in rural set­tings or areas where physician resources are more limited have spoken out about how helpful the group has been to them.

In addition to providing a route for increased research devel­opment, Facebook™ forums can provide interdisciplinary connections between physicians and industry members. Collaboration with industry in terms of the group was somewhat controversial—an agreement was made that