‘Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it’: social media and public health

Abstract

Purpose of review To highlight the various uses of social media by public health practitioners and organizations, with special emphasis on how social media has been successfully applied and where applications have struggled to achieve the desired effects. Recent findings Social media has been used effectively in improving the timeliness and accuracy of public health surveillance. Social media has also been used to communicate information between public health organizations and reinforce consistent messaging about enduring threats to public health. It has been applied with some success to coordinate of disaster response and for keeping the public informed during other emergency situations. However, social media has also been weaponized against the public health community to spread disinformation and misinformation, and the public health community has yet to devise a successful strategy to mitigate this destructive use of social media. Summary Social media can be an effective tool for public health practitioners and organizations who seek to disseminate information on a daily basis, rapidly convey information in emergent situations, and battle misinformation. Social media has been uniquely valuable and distinctly destructive when it comes to protecting and improving public health.

Cognitive warfare

“…The scientific literature from machine learning and data mining [20,85,139], and marketing [81,101,186], has shed light on the various management layers employed by social networks, exposing them as ideal environments for persuading large masses into making sense of the world monolithically. Statistical studies have shown that within social media falsehood diffuses farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all measured categories of information [137,165]. Some studies have demonstrated that countering lies by negating them actually has the opposite effect and strengthens the false statement [123].…”

Wired to Doubt: Why People Fear Vaccines and Climate Change and Mistrust Science

“…Moore et al (74) Two possible solutions to address misinformation on vaccine hesitancy and climate change are:…”

Social Media and Nutritional Guidelines in Pregnancy

“…often turn to social media for wellness education. [10][11][12][13] However, little is known regarding the quality and accuracy of nutrition information during pregnancy available on social media. The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore the pregnancy nutrition content contained in social media videos for content and evaluate the information's concordance with evidence-based guidelines.…”

“…Even providers who are comfortable having these conversations cite a lack of time during patient encounters as a major barrier to discussing nutrition 9 . Although health care providers may be hesitant to discuss nutrition in pregnancy, patients desire this information and often turn to social media for wellness education 10–13 . However, little is known regarding the quality and accuracy of nutrition information during pregnancy available on social media.…”