2 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov). The CDC’s tweeting on the unfolding Zika crisis has been absolutely excellent. As more information has become available, the CDC has tweeted out high-quality information. This account also tends to retweet excellent information from other reputable organizations. Links to influenza surveillance updates are also useful.

3 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (@CMSGov). This account is a “newsy” account that helps me keep up to date with changes in our complicated system. For example, when the newly proposed CMS rule introducing details about the anticipated new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Model (APM) was announced in late April, CMS tweeted out information on the new rule with a link to an article by Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell (@SecBurwell) that explains how the rule intends to modernize Medicare payments. The Health Affairs Blog (@Health_Affairs) also had important takes on these new proposals.

4 On the trendier side, The New York Times has become an increasingly excellent source for both major health news and smaller interest stories that tend to go viral. The three main accounts worth following are @NYTHealth, @NYTScience (less medicine, more environmental, space, etc.), and the @upshotNYT (analytical journalism, frequently featuring the superb writing of Aaron Carroll, MD, MS [@AaronECarroll], professor of pediatrics and associate dean for research mentoring at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, and others). In addition to their Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondents like Sheri Fink (@SheriFink), The Times frequently publishes the informative, thought-provoking, and somehow still humorous writing of Perri Klass, MD (@PerriKlass), professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University in New York City. When your friends and colleagues ask, “Did you see that piece in The Times?” your answer can be, “Yes!”

5 Next, there are hospital Twitter accounts. For the most part, hospital accounts are for public relations. That being said, I follow the accounts of any hospital I work at (and any hospital I have ever worked at or am even thinking about working in). Even though most of these tweets are low-yield, it is wise to keep up with what these institutions are doing on a larger scale. Sometimes these Twitter accounts provide better insight than internal emails you might receive on a daily basis.

6 There’s one other group of Twitter accounts you should always follow, your colleagues. Any time a colleague joins Twitter, follow them. I follow just about any one I know personally from my workplace and many I have met at conferences. It’s a polite and low-impact way to say, “I’m interested in what you have to say.” And even if you aren’t interested, at least each Tweet is capped at 140 characters—not so typical in departmental meetings.