Here’s a quick look at where #LifeofaMedStudent came from and the history of the idea!
#LifeofaMedStudent started back in December 2011 – when I was a 3rd-year medical student. I wanted to find a hashtag on social media that identified the unique lives of medical students. When I couldn’t find one – I simply created it! Much of it humor to start, it focused on the sometimes hilariously sad aspects of medical training. As it grew, medical students could share tips, advice, stories through social media.
#LifeofaMedStudent was born.
At the time, there were several other twitter sites that were much more popular. However, throughout the years almost each and every one of them has faded away.
Why has #LifeofaMedStudent continued to grow?
What I believe allowed #LifeofaMedStudent to succeed was two-fold. One, I was one of the first medical student Twitter accounts to actively retweet many of the users of a hashtag. Other accounts were far less interactive and I wanted to it to be less about myself (or an “anon” medical account) and more about the #LifeofaMedStudent idea: A connection for medical students everywhere to share their experiences – funny, sad, or even advice – in the 140 character Twitter limit.
The second part is that while I had a few slow years where my tweet counts were low, I never stopped semi-consistently adding material or retweeting others who enjoyed the #LifeofaMedStudent expression. This kept people following along and continued to grow the follower count. I still remember when I crossed major follower milestones: – 10k followers, then 20k, then 30k, 40k, and now over 52,000 followers.
It took years, but it amazes me still.
As my follower count grew, I started getting more questions from people wanting advice or my thoughts on issues in medical training. I knew I had developed a platform that could offer a lot to those behind me, but I wasn’t sure how. I tried a variety of ways to answer but found the processes inefficient. DMs get lost too easily and I had no way to answer similar questions to multiple people. I tried AskFM for a bit, but that medium never really caught on. Additionally, 140 characters are just too little to debate complex topics or give detailed advice for medical school.
In Summer 2016 after getting interested in financial blogs – it hit me. I’d start my own website/blog. It’d be about my own experiences in medicine but also answer the similar questions I receive. It would continue the #LifeofaMedStudent twitter brand but finally in much more than 140 characters. And thus, lifeofamedstudent.com was formed.
As for the future, I hope to continue to bring the website closer to the original roots of the #LifeofaMedStudent idea.
I want the site to slowly be less about me, and more a VOICE for all those training in the medical field. I’ll continue to lend my ideas, experience, advice in posts. But mostly, I want the site to be about the #LifeofaMedStudent.
To do that, I’ll put emphasis on contributor posts from pre-meds, medical students, and physicians from all over the world. There are so many great ideas out there that need to be shared. So many excellent experiences that I haven’t personally had. So many different backgrounds that I can’t relate to, but many can. There is so much more out there in medical students across the world, that I can’t personally provide. But as the #LifeofaMedStudent idea – each of these stories is important and should be shared – and I plan to do just that!
Here’s to #LifeofaMedStudent – a VOICE in social media for all those in medical training!
Have an exciting medical story to tell or some advice to give? A unique background or path into medicine? Want to share your own post or experience with others?
#LifeofaMedStudent welcomes posts from our readers! Have your VOICE heard to all those in medical training! Contribute to #LifeofaMedStudent!