The birth of the brain tumor hashtag on Twitter (and how it was inspired by the breast cancer community) #btsm
When it comes to team spirit, the breast cancer community has got it going on.
This community certainly has enough patients, survivors and caregivers to give the community a boost when breast cancer accounts for a little more than 10 percent of all cancer diagnoses each year.
And when it comes to advocacy, the brain tumor community could certainly learn a thing or two from the breast cancer community.
Twitter and cancer
I'm a big fan of @chemo_babe on Twitter. She has stage 3 Her2 breast cancer (whatever that is--don't blame me, I have brain cancer) and writes a great blog at chemobabe.com.
I was checking my Twitter feed the other night when I came across a few of her tweets containing the hashtag #bcsm. I didn't know what it stood for, but her tweets revolved around two bloggers in the breast cancer community who recently died from their disease. (I later learned that #bcsm stood for Breast Cancer Social Media. There is an informational website set up at bcsm.info.)
I clicked the hashtag and it took me to a feed of other Twitter users using the same hashtag. They were all talking about breast cancer--many of them leaving comments about memories of the two female bloggers. Others were tweeting about breast cancer topics in general: chemo, radiation, hair loss, certain drugs, the latest Susan G. Komen scandal.
I joined the conversation and said:
@chemo_babe and I tweeted back and forth, and then @uvmer joined in.
@uvmer lost her best friend to brain cancer and spends much of her Twitter time tweeting about brain cancer awareness and advocacy. She uses the popular hashtag #BrainTumorThursday and, well, tweets on Thursdays.
After tweeting with the two of them I suddenly had a genius idea.
It was @uvmer who came up with the #btsm hashtag.
And thus,
So there you have it. The birth of the brain tumor social media hashtag on Twitter, in all its glory.
Use it. Tag your tweets with #btsm if you are talking about brain tumors. Especially when it is MRI day and you feel like no one knows the anxiety you are feeling.
