1. ‘Using social media to
communicate the findings of
Cochrane reviews’
Andre Tomlin
MD, Minervation Ltd

2. Aims
• Discuss the accessibility and usability of
Cochrane reviews
• Consider how to communicate the findings of
Cochrane reviews in a more interesting and
engaging way
• Introduce you to (and offer some top tips for
using):
– Blogs
– Social media

3. André Tomlin
• Information Scientist
– NHS (Health Sciences Library, 1994-1998)
– University of Oxford (Centre for EBMH, 1998-2002)
– Minervation Ltd (Health websites, 2002-present)
• Specialist in:
– Website development, social media & blogging
– Writing health information for patients and
professionals
– Evidence-based health care
– Usability testing & user involvement
– Multimedia

4. Minervation
• Oxford University
Sample clients:
spin-out
• Built over 50 major • WHO
health websites • NICE
• Work in public, • Bupa
private and charity • LifeScan
sectors • Cancer Research UK
• Accessible, usable • Equator Network
and reliable health
websites

5. Programme
• Exercise 1
• Blogging
• Exercise 2
• Social media
• National Elf Service
• Conclusions

6. Questions
• Who is on..?
– Facebook
– LinkedIn
– Twitter
• Who’s written a blog?
• Who knows what a #hashtag is?

7. Can you help
me keep up to
date with the
latest research • Dr Frank Talker
relating to me
patients? • GP in Bristol
• Big proponent of
evidence-based
practice
• Loves the Internet
and technology

8. “Hey Frank, What do you
think of evidence-based
resources like the
Cochrane Library?”

9. But I just don’t have the time to On one hand,
find what I need and read it all. Cochrane is
The reviews are really long and great, because
technical. I’d love to get short it’s so
user-friendly updates on my systematic and
smartphone, like I can with other reliable.
websites.

10. Exercise 1: Oral health advice
for people with mental illness

11.  This is Jon
 He has
schizophrenia and
problems with his
teeth
 Many patients
living in Frank’s
catchment area have
oral heath problems
like Jon

12. Who’s he trying
She may be to kid! I fixed
the dentist, but those dentures
I have the myself last year!
cheesier
smile!

13. I’m delighted! I’ve
found a Cochrane
review that’s bang on
topic!
Khokhar WA, Clifton A, Jones H, Tosh G.
Oral health advice for people with serious mental illness
. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
2011, Issue 11. Art. No.: CD008802. DOI:
10.1002/14651858. CD008802.pub2.

16. What should I
do now?
Small group task:
• Read the review
• Write a short
summary on oral
health advice for
people with severe
mental illness
• Present your
summary in the style of
a news report

17. Oral health advice
for people with
severe mental
illness

18. Lessons from exercise 1
• Cochrane reviews often provide no conclusive
answer, but it sometimes takes a few minutes to
work this out!
• Obviously, users want answers so it’s helpful to
provide other relevant evidence to help guide them
• This should be done systematically using an
appropriate hierarchy, i.e. Guidelines, SRs, RCTs
etc.
• Here’s what the Mental Elf said:
http://www.thementalelf.net/publication-types/systematic-review/oral-health

19. Blogs

20. What’s a blog
Noun:
A Web site where an
individual or group of
users record opinions
and information on a
regular basis.
Verb:
Add new material to a
blog: “I love the smell of
blogging in the morning”

21. What’s a blog
• Often a personal
viewpoint
• Frequently
updated
• Informal tone
• Open to debate
• Hooked up to
social media

22. Why bother writing a blog?
• It’s fun and easy
• Users like it
• Search engines like it
• It encourages
interaction
• If you don’t, you may
get left behind!

23. Blogging tools
• Blogger.com
• Tumblr.com
• Wordpress.com or
Wordpress.org
• Twitterfeed.com

24. Top tips for blogging
• The right topic
• Outstanding brand
• Clear lay-friendly
language
• Easy to scan
• Use tags
• Engage with users
• Use social media
• Keep it lively and fun

25. Worth a read
• Bad Science
• CRUK Science Blog
• Science-ish
• Trust the Evidence
• Evidence-Based Mommy
• National Elf Service
• The Mental Elf
• Plus lots of Cochrane
blogs!

26. Exercise 2: Physical activity to
improve balance in older
people

27.  My gran loves to
skateboard, but she’s
maybe not typical
 Many of Frank’s
older patients have
balance problems and
suffer from debilitating
falls
 He wants to find
out which specific
forms of exercise are
most useful

28. He may be the physio,
but I’ve got the
stethoscope!
Who needs a
stethoscope
when you
have hands
like mine!?

29. Oh great, another
Cochrane review!
Howe TE, Rochester L, Neil F, Skelton DA,
Ballinger C.
Exercise for improving balance in older people.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
2011, Issue 11. Art. No.: CD004963. DOI:
10.1002/14651858.CD004963.pub3.

31. What should I
do now?
Small group task:
• Read the review
• Write a short
summary on physical
activity to improve
balance in older
people
• Present your
summary in the style of
a news report

32. Physical activity
for older people

33. Lessons from exercise 2
• It’s hard to make specific recommendations
when reviews include a wide range of
interventions
• Some reviews have longer abstracts than
others!
• Here’s what the Lifestyle Elf said:
http://www.thelifestyleelf.net/older-people-need-ple

34. Social media

35. Platforms
• Millions of online health and healthcare
conversations are happening right now
• The 3 main platforms are:
Mostly patients A mix of Mostly
& care givers professionals, professionals
patients & care
givers
• Social media also includes
Google+, MySpace, Ning etc.

36. Why bother with social media?
• Join in the
conversation
• It will happen with you
and without you
• It increases:
– Awareness of your
work
– Traffic to your site
– Engagement with your
audience

37. • 845m active users
• 9% of all online visits
• 1 in every 5 online page views happens on
Facebook
• An average Facebook visit is 23 minutes
• Slightly more female users
• Average number of friends is 130
• Average number of total likes is 80
• More than half of people recommend brands
they ‘like’

38. Facebook architecture
• Wall
– Your personal list of activities
• Page
– A page about a company, product or topic of
interest
• Group
– A collection of pages, discussions and other media

43. • 127 million active users
• An average Twitter visit is 14 minutes
• 54% of people use Twitter on their
phone
• 36% of Twitter users tweet at least
once a day

44. Twitter architecture
• Tweet
– A single post <140 characters
• Homepage
– Your Twitter homepage (like the Facebook wall)
• Followers
– People who receive your tweets on their homepage
• Connect > Interactions
– Where you engage with your users
• Connect > Mentions
– When people mention you (e.g. @andretomlin) in their
tweet
• Hashtag
– Highlighting a topic (e.g. #lovelychap) in their tweet

48. Twitter tools
• Tweetdeck or
Seesmic
• Klout
• Tweetreach
• Tweetsheet

49. • 135m registered users
• 80% of members from US, India, UK, Brazil,
Canada, France, Netherlands, Australia & Spain
• Slightly more male users
• Slightly older demographic than Facebook &
Twitter
• “Facebook for business”

50. Top tips for social media
• Establish a presence on all of
the relevant platforms
• Choose the best platforms to
focus your energy
• Build your brand and your
audience
• Follow like-minded people
• Plan your posts so they
reflect your brand and niche
• Be yourself 
• Don’t be shy!

51. It’s out of control!
• Mobile apps such as
Flipboard allow users
to create their own
interactive
magazines, with
content from social
feeds

52. National Elf Service

53. National Elf Service
• We’ve been helping health professionals keep
up to date with the latest evidence since the
late-90s
• Lot’s of projects, e.g.
– National Library for Health (Muir Gray)
– NHS Evidence (NICE)
• We wanted to create something new that is
simple, approachable, highly usable and fun

55. Users get:
• 1 blog each week day
• Highlighting a relevant and
reliable piece of research,
guidance or policy
• Written in an accessible and
engaging way
• Updates that work for them
(email, social media, RSS,
website etc.)
• Opportunities to discuss the
evidence

60. Our elves are:
• Leading EBM Experts
• Health Professionals
• Researchers
• Information Scientists

61. We have 8 elves so far
Live:
• Dental
• Diabetes
• Healthy Lifestyle
• Learning Disabilities
• Mental Health

62. We have 8 elves so far
In the pipeline:
• Commissioning
• Skin
• Women’s Health

63. Do you have an elf in you?
andre.tomlin@minervation.com

64. Conclusions

65. What have we learnt?
• Social media:
– Communicate
– Engage
– Promote
• Blogs:
– Popular
– Fun
– Cost effective
• Key social media platforms:
– Facebook
– Twitter
– LinkedIn