Five years on X: Insights, challenges, and future directions in blood donor communication from a hospital blood bank perspective

A sustainable blood supply depends on strong relationships between blood banks and donors. In the digital era, social media platforms offer a powerful way to foster these connections. This study presents a hospital blood bank’s experience using platform X to engage with donors and the public. All direct messages (DMs) received via X from May 2018 to May 2023 were analyzed and categorized. The key focus areas were access to donor profiles, medical questions, blood bank operations, mobile application-related, and general questions that did not require access to personalized data. A total of 525 DMs were reviewed. Despite publicly available details, many users inquired about location and operating hours. Other queries involved donor eligibility (11.2%), donation procedures (12.0%), and logistics (17.2%). Around half of interactions could have been addressed through automated responses. However, queries about donor record (4.8%) and screening test results (3.1%) required human oversight due to privacy concerns. Social media is a valuable tool for blood donor engagement, but it presents challenges in privacy, responsiveness, and handling sensitive data. Based on this 5-year experience, we share an outline for policies and procedures that blood banks may adopt for operating social media accounts. We recommend automation and strong data protection measures to optimize the role of social media in blood donor communication.