Instagram is a useful resource for the radiology community, including for education, according to findings published August 14 in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology. But what kind of images should radiology educators use?
Researchers led by Edmund Weisberg from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, found that for radiology education, static images perform significantly better than reels on Instagram when it comes to reaching larger audiences, being shared among users, and being liked and saved more often.
“Promoting engagement on social media is also a central aspect of creating a successful page,” Weisberg and co-authors wrote.
Radiologists are turning to social media to increase interest and accessibility to the field, including for education purposes. Previous research suggests that over 47% of U.S.-based diagnostic radiology residency programs have a corresponding Instagram account and that over one-third of radiology professionals have used the social media platform for education.
Weisberg and colleagues in 2016 created an Instagram page (@ctisus_radiology) for radiology education. Previous reports have highlighted that Instagram “reels,” introduced in 2020 as a short-form video feature, are more popular than image posts. The researchers analyzed their data from the institute’s Instagram account to better understand how image posts compared with reels on the platform when used in radiology education.
Final analysis included 128 images and 96 reels. The team found that images reached a larger audience and were liked and shared more than reels.
| Performative comparison between images, reels on Instagram radiology page | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Measure | Reels | Images | p-value |
| Impressions | 11,972 | 18,745 | < 0.01 |
| Shared | 19 | 20 | < 0.01 |
| Liked | 296 | 480 | < 0.01 |
| Saved | 84 | 138 | < 0.01 |
| Comments | 3 | 3 | > 0.99 |
The team also evaluated the performance of images and reels for the Instagram page’s “You Make the Call!” questions, a series in which two to eight images with a patient's presentation are shown and users are asked to provide a differential diagnosis. After a few hours, the page posts an explanation video with a discussion of the answer.
The researchers observed the following regarding the “You Make the Call!” series:
- Within images, questions (n = 23) displayed higher performance metrics across the board than the three other types of image posts combined (n = 105).
- When compared, the median number of impressions for images was 36,735 compared with 15,992 for other types of images (p < 0.01).
- Images within the series were shared more often (median 25 vs. 17, p < 0.01), received more likes (median 809 vs. 445, p < 0.01), and saves (median 206 vs. 119, p < 0.01) than nonseries images, respectively.
- User engagement showed slightly different trends with series reels being the most liked, while quiz reels received the most comments and talking clips were the most saved.
The study authors noted that images may have performed better because they allow for self-paced learning. Additionally, reels with sound in the study were not music-based. The authors also highlighted that educators can experiment with different posts and see which performs best.
“In our experience with radiology education, we would assure other radiology educators preparing to create an Instagram presence that using reels is unnecessary and may not be the best way to engage the radiology community,” they wrote. “Static images are a sufficient foundation on which to build an Instagram page. Since static images are easier to create than videos, this may come as a relief.”
The authors also recommended that radiology educators looking into using social media create an engaging presence. Examples include asking the audience questions and thinking of social media as a “social community rather than an individual entity.”
The full findings can be accessed here.
