Social Media Presence Linked to Higher Google Review Ratings for Orthopedic Surgeons

NEW ORLEANS — Greater social media engagement among arthroplasty surgeons was not associated with higher patient satisfaction, but it did increase surgeon exposure, according to research presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.

“With more of the generation going toward online platforms, arthroplasty surgeons, and orthopedic surgeons, in general, should utilize social media platforms to reach their goals, whether academic or clinical,” Kevin Y. Heo, MD, a resident at Emory University, said.

Heo and colleagues conducted online searches on 250 randomly sampled members of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) directory for professional profiles, including practice and personal websites on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, TikTok, X and YouTube. They recorded the number of followers on each account.

“We created and summated an online presence score based off the number of platforms each surgeon was active on and then we looked at each surgeon’s H-index as well as different patient ratings from Google Reviews, Healthgrades and Vitals,” Heo said in his presentation.

Surgeons were allocated into subsets based on fellowship training and whether they were in the top 15% of the online presence score. Fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons were more active on YouTube compared with those who were not. There were no differences in mean ratings on Healthgrades and Vitals among surgeons in the top 15% of online presence versus those in the bottom 85%.

However, surgeons in the top 15% of online presence had higher mean Google Review ratings. Instagram employ was associated with a 7% increase in Google Review ratings, and Facebook use was associated with a 9% increase.

Surgeons with a LinkedIn or ResearchGate profile had an increased H-index compared with those who did not have profiles on those social media platforms.

“It would be interesting to witness how [social media presence] affects clinical outcomes or if it affects reimbursements overall or the number of patients seen,” Heo said. “That would be interesting to see if that would influence the presence of online social media use more among orthopedic surgeons.”

Source: Heo KY, et al. Paper 107. Presented at American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 2-6, 2026; New Orleans.

Disclosure: Heo reports no relevant financial disclosures.