‘Nursing’ the social media circle

So this has been a hot topic lately, but definitely not a NEW topic. It seems that the internet is interested in learning more about nurses , nursing and social media. How it works? How it could help?

Social media can be everything from blogging, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, etc. The list is only limited by your imagination.

There have been some recent articles and blog entries related to nurses and the circles of social media. Here is one over at Kevin MD and the American Journal of Nursing blog – Off The Charts.

Being that I’m one of those nurses who uses and participates in social media I can tell you it is invaluable. This is the one place where we nurses can feel less ‘alone’. Don’t misinterpret my word choice here.. When I say ‘alone’ I mean we can rest easy knowing we are not the only one feeling a certain way, having ‘THAT’ kind of day, wondering why this or that happens, etc. It’s a way to share our triumphs and tragedies. We can get that ‘thing’ off our chest by ‘venting’ or just telling our side of the story. The great part is, we can talk, chat and communicate with others who have walked in our shoes, are walking in our shoes, or who will be walking in our shoes.

It’s a virtual nursing community only limited by your interest.

I’m going to focus on just blogging and twitter since there is just too much to discuss. I started blogging years ago and could never make a decision on if I wanted to keep up with it or not. Then last year I gave it one more try. Along with my blogging I discovered this funny lil social media micro-blogging tool called Twitter (have you heard of it?).

I found out quickly how many are on Twitter! How many nurses blog! Just how many nurse are ‘out there’.

Through my discovery I found myself sharing stories from the ‘trenches’ that I thought only could happen to me. I found out we all had the same stories. The same concerns. The same passions! It was awesome.

A year later things are just getting bigger and better. The numbers keep growing.

Maybe you are interested in learning more about us, learning or meeting other nurses, or maybe just connecting with your fellow ‘life-saver’.

Regardless of your motivation, reach out. Take the leap and join the online social community that is growing day after day.

Join Twitter. Sign up for Facebook. Have an interest in sharing a voice? Start a blog. Go visit Kim over at Emergiblog and see what she thinks about starting a blog here.

After you join twitter, take a gander at a few place to get your list of nurses started. Take a visit over at WeFollow here. This is a link to a list of twitter users who have added themselves to the list labeled: nurse. You can also search for RN, registered nurse, etc. Once again your options are limitless.

After visiting WeFollow, stop on over at RNchat here. This is a brand-spanking new website dedicated to the conversation nurses are having on Twitter. It has pre-scheduled hour-long chat sessions via Twitter about a variety of topics. While your there click on the ‘Follow RN’ link. This website has started their own ‘list‘ of nurses who are on Twitter.

And lastly, if you are still looking for some nurses to ‘friend’ on Twitter I would suggest going to the original source. Beth, the nurse-blogger over at PixelRN started a ‘Nurses on Twitter’ list over a year ago that has grown as well as been abandoned. It was the very first list of nurses who first started on Twitter, back when Twitter was just gaining momentum (It must be noted that Beth’s blog has also evolved over the past year due to it being hacked twice).

Be sure to stop on over and ‘friend’ Scrubs Magazine on Twitter here, as well as Facebook here.

You can always listen in on what everyone else is saying. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll become part of the conversation.

At the very least you can find yours truly on Twitter here.

I look forward to seeing… err uuhh reading .. you around!