This article reports the results of an analysis of the content of national and international professional guidance on social media for the nursing profession. The aim was to consolidate good practice examples of social media guidelines, and inform the development of comprehensive guidance.

A scoping search of professional nursing bodies’ and organisations’ social media guidance documents was undertaken using google search.

34 guidance documents were located, and a content analysis of these was conducted.

The results, combined with a review of competency hearings and literature, indicate that guidance should consider the wider context of social media, and support nurses to navigate and negotiate the differences between the real and online domains to help them translate awareness into actions.