To think that TikTok is still just the platform of Vocali volanti and dances, means living in the Pleistocene of social media. Professionals in every field exploit this and other platforms as advertising and dissemination tools; there is no field that has resisted the dark charm of the reel. In the beginning it was fitness, then it was the turn of finance, psychology, cooking and agriculture: even priests have turned the Gospel into a hashtag. Now it’s the turn of medicine, made by those who are doctors, every day: in daily and compulsive scrolling, it is therefore more and more easy to come across white coats that give health advice and prevention practices. Of this phenomenon, there is no doubt that HeiMi - Salute e Prevenzione is the most successful example, the Jackal of health.
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One million followers on Instagram and 24 million likes on TikTok: impressive numbers that last year helped to make the quintet of doctors most followed in Italy in the top 25 of content creators of Fortune Italia. At first glance, their content seems not to follow real social media management rules, at least in terms of topics: it does not appear that "what to do when you get stung by a bee" has become or can ever become a viral content. Yet HeiMI - Salute e Prevenzione manages to make such topics interesting and fun, collecting thousands of views. The project’s success is based on three pillars:
- EDUCATION: they are not only communicators, but real doctors. Camilla Caimi, Gianluca David Baroni, Alice Caimi, Francesca Pivari, Pietro Pettenghi, these are their names, respectively full-time doctors, social worker, nutritionist and physiotherapist.
- COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Here the SMM’s demands follow.
- LIGHTNESS: Emerging from the mystical aura of the stereotyped doctor, they manage to deal with subjects easily and with irony.
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HeiMI are undoubtedly the most popular example among social doctors; however, there is a galaxy of aspiring Chiara Ferragni with a stethoscope, each specializing in a branch of medicine. Between the lanes of Instagram and TikTok you can come across them in dr. Claudio Brancelli, who specializes in urology and offers tips to prevent cystitis; or in the case of dr. Giuseppe Lupica, gynecologist who responds to the direct users, but also in the doctor Silvana Nardi, known on social as Dottoressascandalo, physiotherapist of the pelvic floor. Plastic-aesthetic surgery with Prof. Maximilian Catenacci and the false myths to debunk his discipline are also represented; nutrition by Nutrichad dr Lorenzo Caressa; neonatal osteopathy by Davide Michienzi, tummy time guru.
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Medical-scientific dissemination must always follow ethical principles of transparency and absence of conflict of interest, but nothing prevents it from being adapted to the most effective means of communication: if yesterday was television with Medicine 33, today they can be med-influencers. The international scientific community is aware of the potential and risks of this phenomenon, to the point of dictating guidelines for a conscious use of social media. The risk of infodemia, that is to say the dissemination of excessive and inaccurate information, persists; even, given the condensation of information in seconds and the often passive consumption of social content, increases.
The step separating "I saw it on television" from "I saw it in a reel" is very short; no generation is immune.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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