Medfluencers: Medical professionals by day, influencers by night, these clinicians and researchers use their social media clout to educate, enlighten, and entertain their large following with the most pressing medical topics.
For many social media "influencers," it is something they sought out or anticipated the creation of -- an account with the express purpose of sharing information. For , a first-year general surgery resident at Augusta University Medical College of Georgia, however, it was something she stumbled upon.
Joining YouTube 6 years ago, she began posting little snippets of her life out of "boredom." As she started medical school, she decided to post a "day-in-the-life" video of her first day to share with her mom.
To her surprise, her mom wasn't the only one interested in medical school life.
Today, with nearly 200,000 subscribers on her YouTube page, she's curated a following over the past few years of those interested in the ins and outs of what it takes to get through medical school, and now residency.
Her vlogs view like a reality show (and less drama-filled) version of Grey's Anatomy. In her latest , Revere showcases what it is like to cover trauma on an overnight shift as a resident -- with medical knowledge sprinkled throughout, such as how traumas are categorized, her overnight shift, and squeezing in a meal and snack.
She also goes into topics relevant for other aspiring doctors, covering everything from how to pay for medical school to one-on-one interviews with medical specialists, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps.
Many of her videos, like her most recent resident nights video, include comments, like this one from preeteakaa: "It's her. She is the only reason I'm still pushing myself to learn and become a doctor."
Or Miki Baumgart: "Yay new America!! Thank you for blessing us with a video ♥ You inspired me to [pursue] medicine three years ago, and now I'm two years into my uni qualification, and my grades are on track for getting into medicine :D Thank you for being such an inspiration!!"
Revere recently spoke with Track the Vax's Serena Marshall to explain how she fell into the space and why it isn't, surprisingly, part of her long-term goals.
Below is a part of their interview:
Serena Marshall: Do you think of yourself as a "medfluencer"?
America Revere, MD: No, I think of myself as a garden-variety person.
Marshall: Your first post was how to get over a breakup. And then you kind of saw that evolution.
Revere: I wanted to make content that helps other people. And at the time, that was what I was going through. I don't know if anybody ever was helped by that video, but I ended up finding a niche and another area of the world that could help others a lot better.
Marshall: Did you think that track was going to continue long term, because that started when you began medical school and now you're a general surgery resident?
Revere: No, I had zero expectations. I didn't even know that there were other medical students or doctors who had a YouTube channel or did similar videos. So I kind of stumbled upon it accidentally and just kind of day by day, followed it. I really had no goals. And honestly to this day, I still don't really have any goals. I just do it because it's still fun. People still enjoy it.
Marshall: Why YouTube?
Revere: I love YouTube. I personally spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos. I'm not really an Instagrammer. My options I suppose at the time would have been to be a professional Snapchatter or like Dr. Miami or Dr. Cat on Instagram. But I don't like taking pictures of myself. I think I'm very awkward.
I like Twitter. The thing about Twitter, though, is if you say something, and you're just kind of uneducated at the time, people retweet that like crazy and and what you become becomes kind of permanent. And it's so easy to say something accidentally on Twitter and just ... it's a little bit unsafe, or in my opinion, it's a little bit risky for a position.
Marshall: On YouTube, you found this transition into medicine: day in the life of a med student. You have videos about "how to study with me." Were you surprised by the uptake?
Revere: Yes! So when I started making vlogs I would ask people: "what video do you want next?" And they would say: I want a "study with me video." And I thought, OK, I'll teach them tips and tricks of how I study ...
I would have people comment saying: no, no, that's not the video we wanted. I would think, wait, then what do you want? "We want a video of you actually recording yourself studying."
And I was like, What? Why would anybody want that? I'm not sure why anyone would watch that. But I made one. And my study-with-me videos are actually one of my most popular videos. I have no idea why.
Marshall: You said you have no goals, really. But do you have a benchmark that you want to hit?
Revere: As far as my frequency: I would like to upload once a month. It doesn't always happen that way because I am just so busy. So at least once every month, I just post whatever I think someone would be interested in.
Once a year, I try to make a video update: how I feel about general surgery and what's going on in my life. But most of the time, it's just vlogs each week -- a week in the life of a physician, whatnot.
Marshall: Do you think that's an area where there isn't enough content? And that's where you help kind of fill the void a little bit?
Revere: Well, these days, I think a lot of people are in this medfluencers realm. A lot of people weren't doing it back when I started, but it really took off recently, or actually like a couple of years ago.
So I don't know what I offer that other people don't do. I know a lot of people do day-in-the-life or week-in-the-life videos now. But I guess I just add a different type of personality that some people really appreciate. I think there's something you can learn from everybody. And there's also different fields of medicine that people can look into. So I think there's enough space in YouTube for all sorts of people.
Marshall: You're a general surgery resident now, you were on overnights just last week, right? So where do you find the time to fit in this social media aspect?
Revere: It's very difficult. That's the bottom line.
Especially as I become a resident, it's becoming more difficult. But luckily, the thing about vlogs is all you have to do is do what you usually do, but video it. So that's why I think I'm able to keep it up as a general surgery resident.
Almost any other type of video would be way too difficult. And then I've gotten really fast at editing my own videos. There's no other person who works for me or with me. So it's really easy and fast to get a video recorded and uploaded onto YouTube and edited in a few hours on a free day that I have.
Marshall: Do you get paid for the content that you upload and you produce?
Revere: YouTube pays us for the ads that we roll on our content. And we also get paid for any sponsorships that we feature on the page. And that helps a lot, especially as "medfluencers" because I don't know about everyone else, but for me, I do have med school loans, a lot of them that I get to pay off because of what I do. So it's very helpful.
Marshall: Do you ever feel any pressure from those sponsors to talk about an issue in a certain way or cover an issue in a certain way?
Revere: No, I made sure I pick sponsorships that are very, very ... they don't have a lot of requirements. They are easy to work with. And it's a product that I appreciate and I think that others will appreciate.
I'm very picky, and it's really no sweat if I'm not able to make money from that sponsorship because I refused it, because one day I'll be a physician, I'll be just fine.
Marshall: So when was there a point when you saw your followers sort of blow up?
Revere: So it always plateaus up. But then sometimes there's like, large spikes.
So the first time would be the first time I uploaded a YouTube video about my med school life, and it went up a bit. And then I had uploaded a video about my, I don't even remember, it was like a week in the life of my anatomy final. And that video had like one million views. And I got 10,000 new followers every month for like, 6 months. I couldn't believe it. And that was one of the first times I've gotten paid from YouTube.
I just couldn't believe it. I had no idea where that came from. I don't really particularly know why that video, or what made it special. But that was another instance where it kind of ... my YouTube channel kind of blew up.
Marshall: Now a lot of medfluencers noticed this spike during COVID. Your videos don't really revolve around COVID content: "Day in life as a surgeon," "Residency must-haves," "What's in the surgeon's work bag?" So do you ever plan on transitioning the account into more news of the day perhaps or medical information? Or do you still want to keep it more of your life, your style? What you are doing week to week?
Revere: Right. I think I'm just gonna keep it as it is. I think that those people ... the "medfluencers" that make videos about the latest news and whatnot. They are especially educated and well read on those issues. And they have ... I don't know where they find the time, but it's just that would be something that would take a lot of effort and time to do correctly that I don't think I can offer...
Honestly, like truly, and deep down, I'm a very private person ... I really tried to exclude most aspects of my life that aren't about my job. Like my family, my friends, and my other interests.
I think that when I become an attending, I may not want to, you know, do this forever. I may want to start thinking about other aspects of life, like starting a family and being more private, having more of a private life.
I just stumbled upon it accidentally, I never really thought about taking it anywhere. I just, I'm having fun with it. And I know one day that that won't be something I can do for the rest of my life.
Marshall: What advice would you have for other folks who want to jump into this space?
Revere: People can see through a fake personality ... have fun while you're doing it. I think it's very important to have fun, and to enjoy it.
Be authentic. And show people who you really are, because if you try to portray that same medical student/physician that's been done 10,000 times over, you're never going to stand out. But everybody has a different personality and something to offer and to give the world that I think someone will appreciate.
And even if you don't blow up with millions of followers, if you really enjoy it, then it's worth it.
So what I would say is to be authentic, and to give something to YouTube, or wherever it is, that you actually really enjoy and feel passionate about.
Marshall: Are there certain tools you use on YouTube to help improve engagement or help with editing, any special tricks?
Revere: I actually have a nice camera, but I also do shoot on my iPhone. And then cut it with iMovie. I try to respond to comments when I can. I do post about my YouTube content on my Instagram. But other than that, no, not too much.
All YouTube videos from , were used with permission.
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