Social media has become an integral part for many us in our daily lives. The ability to feel always connected with those around you and around the world is something that humanity has never experienced before. Facebook is a great way to connect to those you already know. With Twitter, the traditional walls between celebrities and fans have been torn down. These, of course, are only two of the major social networks.

What if, with these new technologies, we can communicate with our doctors like never before as well? According to a recent study by UBM Medica shows that many physicians are already connecting with their peers in order to share and discuss best practices. Approximately 72% of physicians are engaging in social media (personally and/or professionally). The most popular platform, unsurprisingly, was Facebook with over 86% of the physicians who use social media. The next two platforms were Medscape and Sermo which are geared towards healthcare strictly which allow them to share best practices among other information.

As more physicians continue to realize the many benefits of connecting with other professionals, it’s likely that we will also see them engage with their patients.

How would you feel with using social media to connect with your local physician? Are you comfortable enough to tweet your doctor?