PERSPECTIVE The Professional Online: Stranger in a Strange Land Anita Ho 1,2 & Nigel Hee 3 Published online: 9 September 2017 # National University of Singapore and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 Abstract In recent years, many medical schools around the world have formally established professionalism education as part of their standard curriculum. While the call to prepare future doctors to behave ethically and professionally is not new, what is new is the emphasis on identity formation in the context of the expanding online universe. Nonetheless, role modelling the professional image is challenging in the digital age, especially when cultures and customs across disciplines and generations collide. Against the backdrop of hyper-vigilance about our professional image, this paper explores whether the hidden professionalism curriculum may inadvertently stifle creativity and humanity. It proposes the positive use of social media as relational or pedagogical tools in teaching learners about work-life balance and responsible online behaviours. Keywords Professionalism . Social media . Pedagogy . Medical education . Hidden curriculum . Role modeling In recent years, many medical schools around the world have formally established ethics and professionalism education as part of their standard curriculum. From com- municating respectfully with patients to addressing conflicts of interest, it is generally assumed that the quality of patient care depends on a high degree of professionalism Asian Bioethics Review (2017) 9:251–255 DOI 10.1007/s41649-017-0019-7 * Nigel Hee nigelhee@gmail.com Anita Ho anitaho.ethics@gmail.com 1 Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 2 Bioethics Program, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA 3 Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore