Best practices for growing and managing online communities / Tony Peregrin

Online communities, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, are dynamic and effective tools that advance real-time collaboration, augment professional development, and contribute to public health service and research.1 Since 2005, the number of US adults using social media has increased from 8% to 72%, with 100 million active Twitter users sending more than 65 million tweets each day and more than one in seven people worldwide now on Facebook.2,3 The presence of both registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) and patients on these and other platforms means formulating best practices for managing and growing these online communities is essential to ensure transparency and the dissemination of accurate food and nutrition information.

Nutrition