FOAM EMCC Blogs 2014
Yes, it is that time of the year again when we update our database Emergency Medicine and Critical Care blogs and podcasts
For the last 5 years we have reviewed, revised and revitalised the EMCC blog and podcast lists. It is a great way to add new sources, marvel at the global collaboration and wealth of educational resources in the #FOAMed blogosphere. It is also useful to analyse the trends in the use of social media, and blogging platforms.
If you are listed but want to change your listing – contact the LITFL team
I am not sure exactly why there are so many EMCC blogs in existence, or why they are appearing with such rapidity. Maybe it is because a lot of our work is frontline, public, diverse and altruistic that there are so many stories and so many educational resources being shared freely and without reservation using the language of FOAM.
Social Media Use
- An overall increase in information dissemination through social media
- 82% – Twitter (165/201) – [72% in 2012]
- 35% – Facebook (70/201) – [42% in 2012]
- 27% – Google + (55/201) – [20% in 2012]
- 13% – Media account such as YouTube or Vimeo (26/201) – [15% in 2012]
- There has been increased engagement in the Google + space since the introduction of G+ communities (e.g. emcrit+, ECG+ and REBEL EM)
Interesting factoids:
- There has once again been significant growth since the last review in August 2012
- EMCC blogs have grown from 67 in 2011, 130 in 2012 and 201 (2013)
- A legal disclaimer now exists on 88% of sites
- There is better identification of authors with 96% of blogs and podcasts citing the full name, credentials, contact form and geographical location of blog authors
- ..but interestingly 9% (18/201) still fail to provide a valid RSS Feed for blog content
- WordPress.org has become the blogging platform of choice being used by 42% of EMCC bloggers. Interestingly 14 blogs have changed from Blogger.com to WordPress.org over the last 6 months.
Attrition Rate
- 10 blogs are no longer accessible and have been removed from the list.
- The average ‘age‘ of the blog at the time of euthanasia was 4.3 years
- A further 12 blogs have not seen activity for more than 6 months. Hopefully this post will invigorate and stimulate those erstwhile wordsmiths…
Country of Origin
- Global collaboration exists with 201 blogs from 24 Countries in 6 different languages
| USA | 100 | Costa Rica | 1 |
| Australia | 39 | Croatia | 1 |
| Canada | 12 | Czech republic | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 9 | France | 1 |
| New Zealand | 7 | Ireland | 1 |
| Italy | 5 | Israel | 1 |
| Spain | 4 | Latin America | 1 |
| Chile | 2 | Malaysia | 1 |
| Germany | 2 | Netherlands | 1 |
| Poland | 2 | Puerto Rico | 1 |
| Singapore | 2 | Scandinavia | 1 |
| Sweden | 2 | Turkey | 1 |
vive la FOAM
References
- Cadogan M, Thoma B, Chan TM, Lin M. Free Open Access Meducation (FOAM): the rise of emergency medicine and critical care blogs and podcasts (2002-2013) [PMID 24554447]
- FOAM EMCC Blogs 2012
- FOAM EMCC Blogs 2014
- FOAM EMCC Blogs 2016
- FOAM EMCC Blogs 2018
- Kovic I. Twitterverse of Emergency Physicians [Infographic]
- Emergency Medicine and Critical Care (EMCC) resources
