BackgroundWith the growing use of social media in health care settings, there is a need to measure outcomes resulting from its use to ensure continuous performance improvement. Despite the need for measurement, a unified approach for measuring the value of social media used in health care remains elusive.ObjectiveThis study aimed to elucidate how the value of social media in health care settings can be ascertained and to taxonomically identify steps and techniques in social media measurement from a review of relevant literature.MethodsA total of 65 relevant articles drawn from 341 articles on the subject of measuring social media in health care settings were qualitatively analyzed and synthesized. The articles were selected from the literature from diverse disciplines including business, information systems, medical informatics, and medicine.ResultsThe review of the literature showed different levels and focus of analysis when measuring the value of social media in health care settings. It equally showed that there are various metrics for measurement, levels of measurement, approaches to measurement, and scales of measurement. Each may be relevant, depending on the use case of social media in health care.ConclusionsA comprehensive yardstick is required to simplify the measurement of outcomes resulting from the use of social media in health care. At the moment, there is neither a consensus on what indicators to measure nor on how to measure them. We hope that this review is used as a starting point to create a comprehensive measurement criterion for social media used in health care.

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Background Many health care organizations use social media to support a variety of activities. To ensure continuous improvement in social media performance, health care organizations must measure their social media. Objective The purpose of this study is to explore how health care organizations approach social media measurement and to elucidate the tools they employ. Methods In this exploratory qualitative research, Australian health care organizations that use social media, varying in size and locality, were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, and the transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results The study identified health care organizations’ approaches to social media measurement. While some measured their social media frequently, others used infrequent measurements, and a few did not measure theirs at all. Those that measured their social media used one or a combination of the following yardsticks: personal benchmarking, peer benchmarking, and metric benchmarking. The metrics tracked included one or more of the following: reach, engagement, and conversion rates. The tools employed to measure social media were either inbuilt or add-on analytics tools. Although many participants showed great interest in measuring their social media, they still had some unanswered questions. Conclusions The lack of a consensus approach to measurement suggests that, unlike other industries, social media measurement in health care settings is at a nascent stage. There is a need to improve knowledge, sophistication, and integration of social media strategy through the application of theoretical and analytical knowledge to help resolve the current challenge of effective social media measurement. This study calls for social media training in health care organizations. Such training must focus on how to use relevant tools and how to measure their use effectively.

BACKGROUND Social media is increasingly used by healthcare providers. However, despite the growing adoption of the application in healthcare settings, the various contexts of use and the value proposition in each context are not well understood. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore the uses of social media in healthcare settings and the value proposition in each context of use, using a qualitative methodology. The affordances of social media and how healthcare providers appropriate social media for health-related activities are also explored from a Uses and Gratification Theory perspective. METHODS This study is an exploratory qualitative research study. Australian healthcare providers that use social media were contacted to participate in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and the transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis, to identify common themes expressed across participants. RESULTS Nine contexts of use of healthcare social media emerged: professional networking, harnessing patient feedback, public health promotion, professional education, patient education, organizational promotion, crowdsourcing, research, and patient collaboration. Results indicates that healthcare providers are not passive users of information systems, rather, they make conscious decisions regarding if, when and how to use social media. Thus, healthcare providers use social media because they believe that it will help them realize the gratification or value they seek. CONCLUSIONS This study conclude that the value of social media in healthcare lie in its potential to support various activities in healthcare settings. However, its value proposition varies depending on context of use.