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\begin{document}

\title{Social Media: The Undeniable Game Changer in the World of Research and
Discovery}


\author[ ]{Nadia I. Awad}
\author[ ]{Authorea Reddit}

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They say that life is full of surprises. That is the understatement of
the moment, especially as it relates to the integration of social media
within our career trajectories.\\

~\\

It is difficult to imagine where I would be in a professional capacity
in the absence of social media.\\

~\\

My journey in the world of social media began over four years ago, where
I facilitated the development of an educational blog known as
\href{http://empharmd.blogspot.com}{Emergency Medicine PharmD}, which is
aimed at defining the role of the emergency medicine pharmacist. My
involvement in the blog has allowed me to unite several passions of mine
in one vehicle: research and lifelong learning; writing in both
scientific terms and prose in the form of storytelling; and emergency
medicine pharmacy.\\

~\\

At around the same time, I created a
\href{https://twitter.com/Nadia_EMPharmD}{professional Twitter account}
as a means of disseminating newly published entries from the blog to
those who followed me in addition to sharing articles and interesting
posts related to the practice of emergency medicine pharmacy.\\

~\\

In serving as associate editor of the blog, having authored over 75
educational entries since its inception, and through my active
engagement on Twitter, my contributions within the world of social media
has propelled my professional career as an emergency medicine pharmacist
in ways that I never thought could ever be remotely possible. I realized
early on that social media can be leveraged for research purposes and to
date, I have had formal publication of three research papers in the
medical literature related to social media and pharmacy. With this, I
have also been able to interact with several other individuals within
the international community of emergency medicine clinicians and
collaborate on blog posts and podcasts on various topics as well as
participate in research studies and other such activities. Last year, I
joined a team of emergency medicine pharmacists from around the country
in producing an \href{https://www.aliemu.com/capsules/}{online
curriculum called the Capsules series}, which is focused on creating
educational modules related to practical pharmacology for the emergency
medicine practitioner. One of my greatest achievements to date has been
being elected to serve as incoming chair of the Emergency Medicine
Practice and Research Network of the American College of Clinical
Pharmacy, where I will take the lead on various activities throughout my
term on behalf of more than 1,000 members of the network in this
national organization. Finally, in their provision of prescriber and
patient education related to medication safety, the Food and Drug
Administration (yes, \textbf{THE} FDA)
\href{http://empharmd.blogspot.com/2016/06/when-fda-met-foamed.html}{cited}
one of my own blog entries as a featured reference in a
\href{http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm504617.htm}{recently
released drug safety warning}. That was the icing on the cake; to have a
major federal agency cite my own writing on an education blog in their
efforts to enhance medication safety was not only a ``mind blown''
moment for me, but it also reflects a turning of the tide, demonstrating
that our contributions in social media can be influential on the grand
scale -- and that you never know who may be following your work in these
outlets.\\

~\\

These opportunities serve as conversation starters of the penultimate
question related to social media: ``What's next?''\\

~\\

There is room for improvement in this medium. We need to begin to
develop those discussions with folks who may be of the ``traditional''
mindset, particularly those who may serve on promotion and tenure
committees, on the value of social media in professional development in
a manner that they can understand and appreciate. No longer should it be
conventional to scoff at social media for all of its associations with
frivolity and ``time wasted'', which has been a traditionally held
attitude in the past. As more and more academics, researchers, and
clinicians professionally engage in social media, it is also important
to recognize the opportunities that arise as a result of their
involvement. In addition, social media is not without its shortcomings,
not unlike any other medium where information is shared, and one area is
in the lax peer review process. There can be any number of methods for
conducting peer review, whether it be pre- or post-publication, of
material that is open access and available for wider web of readers and
users. If this is conducted as a means to enhance the accuracy and
quality of information shared within the resource, it may facilitate
presentation of the medium in such a way that members of promotion and
tenure committees may recognize and value, and perhaps become more
receptive in accepting these materials as scholarly activity in the same
manner as traditional print publications.\\

~\\

Suffice it to say that social media is indeed here to stay. The window
of opportunity in the world of social media is wide, and through these
improvements, research and discovery can progress to support and further
the work of contributors of this movement.

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