LAUSR

Social media, loosely defined as online platforms for sharing and communication, have become a worldwide sensation. Among medical professionals, including pathologists, Twitter and Facebook are especially popular for sharing information, making and maintaining professional connections, and staying up to date in the field. Some colleagues may not see the value in using social media and may in fact perceive social media activities as unprofessional or not serious. With any new and emerging technology, early adopters risk judgment. However, social media have already had significant uptake in the cytopathology community, including journals such as Cancer Cytopathology and Diagnostic Cytopathology, societies such as the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) and the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology, the Milan reporting system, the current ASC president, the current editor-in-chief of Cancer Cytopathology, and many others. Do’s and don’ts for sharing cytopathology on social media are highlighted in Table 1. It is our opinion that the potential benefits of social media for cytopathology far outweigh the risks. There are myriad ways in which cytopathologists can take advantage of social media. First, it is very easy to share images and teaching points on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Each of these allows users to post images and corresponding text, and it is easy for other users to respond with questions, comments, and tips of their own. In this article, we have chosen to focus on Twitter as the prototypical social media platform for cytopathology. However, many of these same ideas are applicable to other platforms. Through social media, interesting and illustrative cases can be shared worldwide in a matter of minutes, whereas previously such cases could be shared only in person at meetings or didactic conferences or via static images in the literature. This is especially useful in cytopathology because many of our diagnostic slides are irreplaceable and not easily replicated. Hashtags (clickable, searchable topic labels used in tweets) such as #cytopath, #cytology, and #FNAFriday are an easy way to tag and discover interesting cases. A recent Twitter conversation shared different methods of preparing “phantoms” for fine-needle aspiration biopsy teaching and practice (Fig. 1). “Mystery cases” and “unknowns” allow interesting cases from across the world to be shared for educational purposes and allow real-time discussions with experts and colleagues as well as the sharing of educational articles and resources. These are just a few examples of how social media contribute to continued learning in cytopathology. The field of cytopathology is currently evolving; this evolution includes increased use of molecular testing, the impact of the category “noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features,” and updates in reporting systems such as the Paris (Fig. 2), Bethesda, and Milan systems. Social media are an easy way