Letter by Thoma et al Regarding Article, “A Randomized Trial of Social Media From Circulation ”

We would like to commend Circulation for exploring a topic that has not been well addressed elsewhere with the publication of the study “A Randomized Trial of Social Media From Circulation. ”1However, after considering the background literature and methodological characteristics of the study, we are concerned that the authors overstated their conclusion that social media strategies do not increase dissemination of scholarly publications. There is evidence of the benefits and use of social media for knowledge translation,2 and recent research has shown that mention on social media correlates with traditional impact metrics3 while increasing the readership of scientific publications among their niche audience.4 Methodological concerns include unaddressed confounders, the use of page views as a proxy of impact, and the sacrifice of …