Introduction: Healthcare provider presence on social media is growing across all platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The purpose of this study was to provide updated information on which sports medicine patients are most influenced by provider presence on social media, as well as their preferences in social media platforms and content, to help guide future provider content. Methods: An anonymous online, voluntary, self-administered questionnaire containing 13 questions was distributed to patients (n=159) who had a clinic visit with one of two orthopaedic sports medicine surgeons at the same institution between November 2021 and January 2022. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data of 159 respondents.

Results: A total of 159 responses were received for a response rate of 29.5%. The most common social media platforms used by patients were Facebook (110; 84%), YouTube (69; 53%), and Instagram (61; 47%). Most participants indicated that it did not make a difference to them if their sports medicine surgeon was on social media (N=99, 62%), and they indicated they would not travel further to see a physician who was active on social media (N=85, 54%). Compared to other age groups, significantly more respondents over the age of 50 years used Facebook to follow their physicians (47 of 60, 78%, p = .012). Seventy-eight (50%) patients noted that they were interested in seeing medical facts, while 72 (46%) were interested in seeing educational videos on their physician’s social media page. Conclusion: Patients frequently use the internet to find answers to their health care questions. In this study, we found that sports medicine patients prefer to see educational videos and medical facts from their surgeons on social media, most predominantly on Facebook. Sports medicine surgeons may use these findings to evolve their social media presences to fulfill patient interest in education about sports medicine injuries and recovery.