When I talk about social media I usually describe my earliest entree in to Twitter as ‘monkeying around.’  An innocent flirtation with no real endpoint.  The point is that I didn’t know what it was or how I might use it, but I was curious.  Recently a skeptical physician-friend approached me after a talk and said with a smirk, “So that’s what you do on Twitter, you monkey around?”  I thought for a moment and replied, “Actually, yeah…”

Through my flirtation I’ve come to understand how something like Twitter can work for me.  It’s now a tool, not a curiosity.  But it started with experimentation.  Good things happen when I try new things.

As doctors I don’t think we monkey around enough with things, really.  It’s how we understand things.  It’s how we come up with ways to make things better.  It’s how we take something like YouTube and make it into something that improves the care of our patients.

But we’re conservative by training and culture.  Most of us are just too busy being busy.

I miss monkeying around with Twitter as I once did but I guess that’s the natural order of things.  Twitter will remain an important part of my workflow but I’m finding new things to play with.