I do not profess to be a social media expert. I do (obviously) engage in social media in a couple of ways, primarily through my blogs and Twitter, but I am not an addict. And notwithstanding the fact that social media has become a standard communication format for many folks, especially the younger generation, I still wonder how we are going to harness this revolution to improve what people know about cancer, what we can do with that information and how we can raise awareness about cancer-related issues such as new treatments, prevention, survivorship and clinical trials among many other topics. The reality is that there hasn’t been much impact of social media on cancer care, except in a few areas. Survivorship is one, where patients, families and caregivers communicate in communities about their similar experiences. Celebrities have an influence in social media when it comes to cancer: Angelina Jolie is one of several who have influenced many women by telling their story publicly then having that story reverberate through the media universe. But social media in cancer has downsides as well. The medium is used to “hype” stories that may not be based on fact or quality research. Cancer centers use social media to increase awareness of their brands, sometimes making claims that are not subject to careful scrutiny or employ the old and overused “hope and hype” approach that I find so personally problematic. The statistics in some of the stories aren’t well explained, leaving the uncritical reader to believing they have learned something that in fact is simply not true or may be borderline at best. There is no question that social media is reworking the way we communicate and rewiring our brains in ways we never anticipated. What used to be the picture of mom and dad sitting down to read the newspaper or magazine and seeing “random” articles from time to time is now focused, concentrated, and offered to those who may be of like mind. The tweet or the headline on the email (if you still use email) is a couple of characters, then you click through to the abstract of the story, and then if you are really interested you may go to the full story. The short piece that pops up on the lock screen of your cellphone becomes your knowledge and your reality. So how does cancer — especially cancer control — fit into this?