%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I JMIR Publications
%V 22
%N 10
%P e22005
%T Brain Tumor Discussions on Twitter (#BTSM): Social Network Analysis
%A Feliciano,Josemari T
%A Salmi,Liz
%A Blotner,Charlie
%A Hayden,Adam
%A Nduom,Edjah K
%A Kwan,Bethany M
%A Katz,Matthew S
%A Claus,Elizabeth B
%+ Department of Biostatistics, Yale University School of Public Health, 60 College St., P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States, 1 203 785 6415, elizabeth.claus@yale.edu
%K brain tumors
%K social media
%K health care
%K patient support
%K network analysis
%D 2020
%7 8.10.2020
%9 Original Paper
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Background: The Brain Tumor Social Media (#BTSM) Twitter hashtag was founded in February 2012 as a disease-specific hashtag for patients with brain tumor. Objective: To understand #BTSM’s role as a patient support system, we describe user descriptors, growth, interaction, and content sharing. Methods: We analyzed all tweets containing #BTSM from 2012 to 2018 using the Symplur Signals platform to obtain data and to describe Symplur-defined user categories, tweet content, and trends in use over time. We created a network plot with all publicly available retweets involving #BTSM in 2018 to visualize key stakeholders and their connections to other users. Results: From 2012 to 2018, 59,764 unique users participated in #BTSM, amassing 298,904 tweets. The yearly volume of #BTSM tweets increased by 264.57% from 16,394 in 2012 to 43,373 in 2018 with #BTSM constantly trending in the top 15 list of disease hashtags, as well the top 15 list of tweet chats. Patient advocates generated the most #BTSM tweets (33.13%), while advocacy groups, caregivers, doctors, and researchers generated 7.01%, 4.63%, 3.86%, and 3.37%, respectively. Physician use, although still low, has increased over time. The 2018 network plot of retweets including #BTSM identifies a number of key stakeholders from the patient advocate, patient organization, and medical researcher domains and reveals the extent of their reach to other users. Conclusions: From its start in 2012, #BTSM has grown exponentially over time. We believe its growth suggests its potential as a global source of brain tumor information on Twitter for patients, advocates, patient organizations as well as health care professionals and researchers. 
%M 33030435
%R 10.2196/22005
%U http://www.jmir.org/2020/10/e22005/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/22005
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33030435