@Cochranecollab – almost one year of postings: a survey Megan Freemantle1, Clive E Adams2 1. The Minster School, Southwell, Nottinghamshire 2. Cochrane Schizophrenia Group, University of Nottingham, UK Background More results Timing The Cochrane Collaboration is an organisation which helps synthesise best evidence of the effects of health care interventions and diagnostic tests. Twitter is one ‘micro-blogging’ platform used by the Cochrane Collaboration. Username “@cochranecollab” has 43,000 followers. Retweeting Tweet Retweets Cochrane review We stand with our Canadian friends & colleagues - please tweet #SaveCochraneCanada to show support. Funding ends Sept 2015. @CochraneCanada 143   #CochraneTraining | Free Introduction to Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses | Online course | 84 New Cochrane Review finds some evidence #chondroitin effective in relieving pain in #osteoarthritis 57  MT @JonathanCCraig: Helpful matrix for summarising research results presented by A Oxman @GRADE_WG at #cochraneathens 52 #CochraneTraining | Free Introduction to Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses | Online course, 13 Jul-22 Aug 47 20 May is Int'l Clinical Trials Day - find out more & listen to this year's #Cochrane #podcast collection 44 New #CochraneEvidence indicates that electronic cigarettes facilitate smoking cessation 41 New #CochraneEvidence finds that #ecigarettes may help smokers quit or reduce 40 New #CochraneEvidence confirms topical #NSAIDs provide effective relief for musculoskeletal #pain in adults New #CochraneReview finds low-quality evidence #chondroitin more effective than placebo for #osteoarthritis 39 Methods We searched for the username “@cochranecollab” on Google (UK) on 17th August 2015 and found the website (https://twitter.com/cochranecollab?lang=en) from which we acquired all tweets from the 11th August 2015 to 19th September 2014 (the furthest back the site allowed). When imported into MS Excel, the spreadsheet contained 828 tweets including dates, number of retweets and favourites (not the time of tweeting). We randomly selected 100 tweets to further investigate for the time sent. We manually categorised Tweets using our informal impression of the purpose and content of the Tweet. Conclusion We did not investigate the use of clusters of Tweets on the same topic or different styles conveying the same information. Nor did we investigate the use of words/phrases of known value, tweet length, the placement of links - all of which can encourage greater ‘click-through-rate’ – a currently agreed measure of impact. From what we did investigate there are clear problems – but also solutions Results Broad classification * N % Reviews Advertisement 341 41%   Announcement 138 17% Blog 2 0% Cochrane Evidence 181 22% 95 11% Cochrane News 33 4% Personally tagged communication 115 14% Public interaction 18 2% Total 828 100% Problem Solution Content Unclear focus of the username Clarify and define the role of ‘@Cochranecollab’ by using different usernames for specified and defined purposes, for example, create new @CochraneJobs or/and @CochraneTraining usernames Unclear if equitable policy is being implemented regarding evidence from reviews Perhaps there should there be a policy of equitable dissemination between groups with strategies to be reactive to events such as production of a clearly high impact review, or global need e.g. Ebola, emergency health care in times of disaster…. Timing/technique What day the Tweet goes out Moving activity towards Thursday through to Sunday may engage more people Many Tweets are not seen in real-time Micro-blog schedulers Outcome The technique of repetition Could be done more again using micro-blog schedulers @Cochranecollab Retweet rate is low The diverse nature of the Tweeting within @Cochranecollab may not promote retweet rate GROUP - order of frequency N Pregnancy and Childbirth 11 Musculoskeletal 8 Tobacco 7 Airways 6 Acute Respiratory Infections 5 Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems  EPOC Pain, palliative and supportive care Heart 4 Drugs and Alcohol 3 Infectious Diseases Occupational Safety and Health Anaesthesia, Critical, and Emergency Care  2 Colorectal Cancer Consumers and Communication Group Eyes and Vision Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology & Orphan Cancer Gynaecology and Fertility Group Methodological Schizophrenia Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma, Breast cancer, Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders, Dementia and Cognitive Improvement , Epilepsy, Hypertension, Kidney and transplant, Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Group, Oral health, Peripheral Vascular Diseases, Skin, Stroke 1 each Cochrane review source Twitter is an enormously potent way of ensuring information product placement. With 43, 000 followers , it is important that @Cochranecollab is used with care, tact, strategy and, above all, evidence. * “Personally tagged communication” is where a conversation is targeted at a particular person, and “Public interaction” was requesting comment from followers. ‘Announcements’ were for jobs within the Cochrane organisation and ‘Advertisements’ were largely for Cochrane courses.