Social Media Use and Its Impact on Physician Review Website Ratings in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

Background: The growth in social media (SM) use and consumer-driven health care has led more patients to rate surgeons on physician review websites (PRWs). This study assessed surgeon's professional SM presence and its relationship to PRW ratings. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons members as of June 15, 2021. The presence of SM (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and personal professional website) and PRW (Google [G], Healthgrades [HG], and Vitals [V]) ratings were collected. Statistical analyses compared PRW ratings among surgeons who did and did not have Any SM, defined as having at least one of the following SM accounts: Facebook; Twitter; Instagram; or YouTube. Results: Of the 2,455 surgeons, 550 (22%) had Any SM. Compared to surgeons who did not have Any SM, surgeons who had Any SM had significantly higher G, HG, and V overall scores (G:4.1 versus 3.7; HG:4.3 versus 4.1; V:4.0 versus 3.8; P < .01), number of ratings (G:36.9 versus 26.5; HG:56.8 versus 38.3; V:45.6 versus 30.9; P < .01), and number of comments (G:24.4 versus 16.4; HG:35.2 versus 22.0; V:21.5 versus 12.3; P < .01). Surgeons who had Any SM were 1.8 (1.4 to 2.3; P < .01), 1.5 (1.2 to 1.9; P < .01), and 1.5 (1.2 to 1.9; P < .01) times more likely to have a G, HG, and V score of ≥4.0, respectively, than surgeons who did not have Any SM. Conclusions: Surgeons who had Any SM demonstrated a significant association with higher PRW overall scores, number of ratings, and number of comments, suggesting that SM presence may increase surgeon PRW ratings.