APMA News - May/June 2018 - 12

Social Media: Expanding the Horizon

continued from page 11

grown from 57 percent to 68 percent. Nearly 85 percent
of survey respondents report they are comfortable with
social media, and 60 percent use it daily.
Members were most likely to use LinkedIn for professional purposes (81 percent), followed by Facebook (73
percent), and YouTube (26 percent). Only about 16 percent of respondents reported using Twitter professionally. For
personal use, 84 percent of respondents indicated they use
Facebook, followed by YouTube with 59 percent, and Instagram
at 37 percent.
While the full results of the APMSA survey are confidential, they mimicked what APMA found among its membership. "Students are clearly using social media both personally
and professionally," said APMSA Executive Director Heather
Keith. "Students look to Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram
for personal use, and LinkedIn and Facebook (with YouTube
as a distant third) for professional use."
APMA is now using the results of both surveys, as well as
other data, to develop a comprehensive strategy for speaking
to its membership on social media. That strategy will outline
our goals and objectives, as well as methods, messages, and
platforms for better communicating with our membership in
addition to our large public following.
APMA also is developing a comprehensive student recruitment strategy in response to Resolution 9-18 (see more on
page 42). That plan will include social media as one of many
vehicles for reaching prospective students, and will define
messages, based on market research, that should be used on
social media and in other venues.
Expect to see more about both strategies and their implementation in the near future. In the meantime, read on for
more from two APMA members who took a close look at how
the profession is using social media in general and Twitter
in particular. (The results of APMA's member survey, which
demonstrate that Twitter has relatively low adoption among
our members for personal [24 percent] and professional [16
percent] purposes, may go a long way toward explaining
some of their findings.)
Follow APMA's member Facebook page, as well as our
general Facebook account (www.facebook.com/TheAPMA)
and our Twitter account (https://twitter.com/APMA).
■
For questions about how to best use social media
in your practice, contact APMA's Communications
department.
12 APMA News May/June 2018

Executive Summary of APMA
Social Media Survey Findings
■ FREQUENCY OF USE

* More than 75 percent of respondents use social media

regularly, that is, every couple of days at a minimum.
60 percent use it on a daily basis.

* Solo practitioners, small group practice owners, and
residents make up the three largest groups of daily

users at 15.5 percent, 11.2 percent, and 10.5 percent,
respectively.

■ COMFORT LEVEL

* Nearly 85 percent of respondents report they are
comfortable using social media, with 47.2 percent in-

dicating they are very comfortable social media users.

* The largest groups of daily users are those who also
indicated a positive level of comfort using social

media. 23.5 percent of solo practitioners, 15.5 percent of small group practice owners, and 12.2 percent
of residents indicated they are either somewhat or
very comfortable using social media.

■ PLATFORMS

* The top three platforms identified for professional pur-

poses are LinkedIn with 80.5 percent, Facebook with
72.8 percent, and YouTube with 26.0 percent of respondents indicating use of those social media outlets.

* For personal use, 83.7 percent of respondents indicat-

ed they use Facebook, followed by YouTube with 58.8
percent, and Instagram at 36.8 percent.

http://www.facebook.com/TheAPMA https://www.twitter.com/APMA

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - May/June 2018