Since it first appeared in the spring of 2013, the #LCSM (Lung Cancer Social Media) hashtag has become THE place on Twitter to find up-to-date information about lung cancer research, treatment, and patient care. 

In July 2013, the lung cancer community followed the precedent set by the #hcsm (Healthcare Social Media), #bcsm (Breast Cancer Social Media), and #btsm (Brain Tumor Social Media) communities and held its first “tweetchat” using the #LCSM hashtag. This chat gave rise to the #LCSM Community and spawned an lcsmchat.com website that posted blogs about upcoming chat topics and #LCSM community activities.

The chat has convened fairly regularly (with occasional vacations) in the subsequent 8+ years, touching on a wide variety of topics of interest to patients, healthcare professionals, and advocates. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of these weekly (and eventually monthly) chats is that they brought together a variety of stakeholders in the lung cancer community on equal footing and removed silos to communications. 

As with other Twitter cancer hashtag communities, participation in #LCSM Chat waxed and waned—new community members actively participated, refocused on new interests, and moved on, sometimes returning later.  Attracting and retaining participants was a challenge for a variety of reasons. Twitter chats were tough to navigate for some, which discouraged participants. People with lung cancer dropped out due to health issues. A wide variety of platforms and projects arose to compete for available screen time. An added complication has been growing disenchantment with social media, especially after nearly two years of pandemic isolation.

Despite active marketing and solid content, participation and engagement in #LCSM chat has continued to drop; the vast majority of tweets are generated by the #LCSM Chat team rather than participants. 

With regret, we’ve concluded it is time to bring #LCSM Chat to an end. The vibrant #LCSM hashtag will continue to live on, just without the monthly hashtag chats.  The lcsmchat.com blog will be archived and remain accessible online until sometime in 2022.

The final #LCSM Chat will be on open mic chat on December 2, 2021, at 5 pm PST (8pm EST). Everyone is welcome to join moderator Janet Freeman-Daily (@JFreemanDaily) to share their #LCSM Chat experiences and reflections.

Thanks to everyone in the lung cancer community for sharing your Thursday evenings and your perspectives with us over the years.  We look forward to continuing interactions with everyone on #LCSM and in collaborations on other projects.

The #LCSM Chat Team

Deana Hendrickson (@LungCancerFaces)
David Tom Cooke, MD (@DavidCookeMD)
Janet Freeman-Daily (@JFreemanDaily)
Brendon Stiles, MD (@BrendonStilesMD)
Timothy Craig Allen, MD (@TimAllenMDJD)
Charu Aggarwal, MD (@CharuAggarwalMD)