TY - JOUR T1 - Social media in the era of COVID-19 JF - Open Heart JO - Open Heart DO - 10.1136/openhrt-2020-001352 VL - 7 IS - 2 SP - e001352 AU - Niti R Aggarwal AU - Mirvat Alasnag AU - Mamas A Mamas Y1 - 2020/09/01 UR - http://openheart.bmj.com/content/7/2/e001352.abstract N2 - The SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic has been likened to a war-like state against an invisible enemy in which healthcare workers (HCW) are metaphorical frontline soldiers, overwhelmed by patient numbers, ventilator shortages and rationing of personal protective equipment (PPE). Little was initially known about the virus, its clinical course, treatment strategies or how to organise healthcare systems to meet this challenge.Over the last few years, social media (SoMe) platforms have gradually gained popularity in cardiology as a means of sharing clinical experiences, disseminating new knowledge, curating content, research collaborations and patient advocacy.1 The cardiology community faces many challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic: patients with cardiovascular disease have the greatest risk of mortality with COVID-19 infection, up to 28% of COVID-19 cases have cardiovascular involvement, cardiac complications of potential drugs under investigation and delayed cardiac care for patients not presenting to hospitals for fear of being exposed to COVID-192–5 Furthermore, provision of cardiovascular care places HCW at elevated risk of serving as a host or vector of viral transmission.3 During this pandemic, SoMe platforms are well poised to meet many of the challenges faced by the cardiovascular community owing to their ability to facilitate the hosting of multimedia content, global reach and providing the means for real-time interactions. They have played a pivotal role in creating a sense of comradery, disseminating knowledge, recruitment and collaboration for research, coordinating a response, and advocacy pertaining to COVID-19.(figure 1)Figure 1 Role of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. HC, healthcare; RX, treatment.At the onset of the pandemic, HCW struggled to reconcile their professional commitment to provision of healthcare to the sickest patients in the face of personal danger, limited clinical resources and frustration over inadequate PPEs. While intense emotions of dealing with life and death are not new for cardiologists, … ER -