How do Japanese medical students use social media? A large multicenter survey of platform preferences and career decision-making

Purpose: Social media has emerged as an important tool for disseminating information to medical students; however, their platform preferences and usage purposes remain unclear. Methods: We conducted a multicenter web-based survey of medical students from eight Japanese medical schools in 2025, assessing their overall social media use, platform preferences by purpose, daily usage time, and the perceived usefulness of social media for career decision-making. Results: A total of 1,515 students participated in this study. YouTube (71.6%), Instagram (65.1%), and X (43.7%) were frequently used platforms, whereas Facebook (1.9%) was rarely used. Platform use differed by academic year: YouTube use was significantly higher among early-year students, whereas X use was significantly more common among advanced-year students (P = 0.043 and P < 0.001, respectively). Overall, 763 respondents (50.4%) perceived social media as useful for career decision-making, with X being used most frequently for this purpose, followed by YouTube and Instagram; this perception was significantly more common among the early-year students (P = 0.005). Conclusions: These findings provide valuable insights for educators and professional organizations seeking to engage medical students through social media. Understanding these trends is especially important as Japan faces a shortage of surgeons.