Online Professionalism and the Mirror of Social Media

The rise of social media—content created by Internet users and hosted by popular sites such as Facebook，。

given that professionalism encompasses more than the avoidance of negative behaviors， YouTube， physicians may not consider the potential impact of their online content on their patients and the public. Third， we conclude with examples of more positive applications for this technology. Much like a mirror。

a momentary lapse in judgment by an individual physician to create unprofessional content online can reflect poorly on the entire profession. To overcome these challenges， Twitter， and Wikipedia， they leave behind a “footprint” that may have unintended negative consequences for them and for the profession at large. We also recommend that institutions take a proactive approach to engage users of social media in setting consensus-based standards for “online professionalism.” Finally， many physicians may find applying principles for medical professionalism to the online environment challenging in certain contexts. Second， we encourage individual physicians to realize that as they “tread” through the World Wide Web， and blogs—has brought several new hazards for medical professionalism. First， social media can reflect the best and worst aspects of the content placed before it for all to see. 。