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Academic productivity, at least by one measure, did not factor into Twitter popularity in the interventional cardiology community, researchers found.
The Hirsch index, which counts published papers and related citations, had no bearing on whether Twitter users reached the top quartile of followers (>736 followers), according to Davide Capodanno, MD, PhD, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Policlinico "G. Rodolico-San Marco" in Catania, Italy, and colleagues.
Rather, the six independent predictors of a high total Twitter follower count were:
Abundant tweets (>505 tweets): adjusted OR 16.39, 95% CI 5.90-45.57
Individual charisma ("Kardashian index" >5): adjusted OR 8.66, 95% CI 2.09-35.89
Large number of accounts user follows (>309 following): adjusted OR 6.42, 95% CI 2.78-14.82