• Masood Jawaid, Muhammad Hassaan Khan, and Shahzadi Nisar Bhutto.
• Dr. Masood Jawaid, MCPS, MRCS, FCPS, Assistant Professor Surgery and Incharge e-Learning, Dow University Hospital & Dow International Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi - Pakistan.
• Pak J Med Sci. 2015 Jan 1; 31 (1): 209-13.

ObjectiveTo find out the frequency and contents of online social networking (Facebook) among medical students of Dow University of Health Sciences.MethodsThe sample of the study comprised of final year students of two medical colleges of Dow University of Health Sciences - Karachi. Systematic search for the face book profiles of the students was carried out with a new Facebook account. In the initial phase of search, it was determined whether each student had a Facebook account and the status of account as ''private'' ''intermediate'' or ''public'' was also sought. In the second phase of the study, objective information including gender, education, personal views, likes, tag pictures etc. were recorded for the publicly available accounts. An in depth qualitative content analysis of the public profiles of ten medical students, selected randomly with the help of random number generator technique was conducted.ResultsSocial networking with Facebook is common among medical students with 66.9% having an account out of a total 535 students. One fifth of profiles 18.9% were publicly open, 36.6% profiles were private and 56.9% were identified to have an intermediate privacy setting, having customized settings for the profile information. In-depth analysis of some public profiles showed that potentially unprofessional material mostly related to violence and politics was posted by medical students.ConclusionThe usage of social network (Facebook) is very common among students of the university. Some unprofessional posts were also found on students' profiles mostly related to violence and politics.

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