The Utility of Social Media on Urology Residency Doximity Rankings

Background Social media has been more widely used by urology residency programs since the COVID-19 pandemic. There are no studies on the relationship between Doximity residency ranking and social media usage in urology. Objectives In this study, we aim to investigate the relationship between social media usage and the academic prestige of urology residency programs. Methods Residency reputation data was acquired from the Doximity Residency Navigator website. Twitter and Instagram activity in 2019 and 2021 was analyzed by collecting data on the total number of posts and followers. Data on residency virtual recruitment was obtained from Twitter and UroResidency website. Results By the end of 2021, 122/139 (87.8%) urology residency programs had a Twitter account and 61/139 (43.9%) had an Instagram account. A significant linear regression was found between Doximity ranking and the number of Twitter followers (p<0.001), Twitter posts (p=0.005), and Instagram followers (p=0.026). Virtual recruitment events were held by 107/139 (77%) programs in 2021. There was a significant linear regression between Doximity rankings and the number of virtual events (p<0.006). Conclusions Social media use by urology residency programs has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. A program's higher Doximity ranking was correlated with the presence of Twitter and Instagram accounts as well as the number of Twitter followers, Twitter posts, and Instagram followers. There was a significant relationship between Doximity rankings and the number of hosted virtual events. Programs should consider increasing social media visibility to potentially improve their Doximity rankings.