Facebook, the most widely used social media platform, has been adopted by public health organisations for health promotion and behaviour change campaigns and activities. However, limited information is available on the most effective and efficient use of Facebook for this purpose. This study sought to identify the features of Facebook posts that are associated with higher user engagement on Australian public health organisations’ Facebook pages. We selected 20 eligible pages through a systematic search and coded 360-days of posts for each page. Posts were coded by: post type (e.g., photo, text only etc.), communication technique employed (e.g. testimonial, informative etc.) and use of marketing elements (e.g., branding, use of mascots). A series of negative binomial regressions were used to assess associations between post characteristics and user engagement as measured by the number of likes, shares and comments. Our results showed that video posts attracted the greatest amount of user engagement, although an analysis of a subset of the data suggested this may be a reflection of the Facebook algorithm, which governs what is and is not shown in user newsfeeds and appear to preference videos over other post types. Posts that featured a positive emotional appeal or provided factual information attracted higher levels of user engagement, while conventional marketing elements, such as sponsorships and the use of persons of authority, generally discouraged user engagement, with the exception of posts that included a celebrity or sportsperson. Our results give insight into post content that maximises user engagement and begins to fill the knowledge gap on effective use of Facebook by public health organisations.

BackgroundFew studies have reported energy balance-related behavior (EBRB) change for peer leaders delivering health promotion programs to younger students in secondary schools. Our study assessed the impact of the Students As LifeStyle Activists (SALSA) program on SALSA peer leaders’ EBRBs, and their intentions regarding these behaviors.MethodsWe used a pre–post study design to assess changes in EBRBs and intentions of Year 10 secondary school students (15–16 year olds) who volunteered to be peer leaders to deliver the SALSA program to Year 8 students (13–14 year olds). This research is part of a larger study conducted during 2014 and 2015 in 23 secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. We used an online questionnaire before and after program participation to assess Year 10 peer leaders’ fruit and vegetable intake, daily breakfast eating, sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) intake, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) participation and school-day recreational screen time behaviors and intentions regarding these EBRBs. Generalized estimating equations with a robust variance structure and exchangeable correlation structure were used to estimate the individual-level summary statistics and their 95% CIs, adjusted for clustering. We further assessed the effect of covariates on EBRB changes.ResultsThere were significant increases in the proportion of Year 10 peer leaders (n = 415) who reported eating ≥2 serves fruit/day fruit from 54 to 63% (P < 0.01); eating ≥5 serves vegetables/day from 8 to 12% (P < 0.01); and drinking <1 cup/day of SSBs from 56 to 62% (P < 0.01). Change in ≥60 min MVPA participation/day depended on gender (P < 0.01): Boys increased 14% while girls decreased −2%. Changes in eating breakfast daily also depended on gender (P < 0.004): Boys increased 13% while girls decreased −0.4%. The change in peer leaders recreational screen time differed by socio-economic status (P < 0.05): above average communities decreased by −2.9% while below average communities increased 6.0%. Significant shifts were seen in peer leaders’ intentions, except MVPA which remained stable.ConclusionsThe SALSA program had a positive impact on peer leaders’ EBRBs, with gender and socio-economic status moderating some outcomes.Trial registration ACTRN12617000712303 retrospectively registered.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-017-4707-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

ABW environment appears to reduce self-reported sedentary behavior and low back pain and increase standing time.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR physical activity and screen time observed could persist and threaten a further deterioration in global inactivity rates. Programmatic and policy strategies such as Active Kids could arguably be reoriented towards promoting physical activity and reduced screen time during pandemic periods as well as in usual times to good effect. Such efforts should focus on young people who are insufficiently active, those from lower socioeconomic areas, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.