Mind the Gap: Social Media Engagement by Public Health Researchers

Abstract

BackgroundThe traditional vertical system of sharing information from sources of scientific authority passed down to the public through local health authorities and clinicians risks being made obsolete by emerging technologies that facilitate rapid horizontal information sharing. The rise of Public Health 2.0 requires professional acknowledgment that a new and substantive forum of public discourse about public health exists on social media, such as forums, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.ObjectiveSome public health professionals have used social media in innovative ways: to surveil populations, gauge public opinion, disseminate health information, and promote mutually beneficial interactions between public health professionals and the lay public. Although innovation is on the rise, most in the public health establishment remain skeptical of this rapidly evolving landscape or are unclear about how it could be used. We sought to evaluate the extent to which public health professionals are engaged in these spaces.MethodsWe conducted a survey of professorial- and scientist-track faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. We asked all available faculty via email to complete a 30-question survey about respondent characteristics, beliefs about social media, and usage of specific technologies, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.ResultsA total of 181 (19.8%) of 912 professor- and scientist-track faculty provided usable responses. The majority of respondents rarely used major social media platforms. Of these 181 respondents, 97 (53.6%) had used YouTube, 84 (46.4%) had used Facebook, 55 (30.4%) had read blogs, and 12 (6.6%) had used Twitter in the prior month. More recent degree completion was the best predictor of higher usage of social media. In all, 122 (67.4%) agreed that social media is important for disseminating information, whereas only 55 (30.4%) agreed that social media is useful for their research. In all, 43 (23.8%) said social media was helpful for professional career advancement, whereas 72 (39.8%) said it was not. Only 43 (23.8%) faculty said they would employ a full- or part-time social media consultant, and 30 (16.6%) currently employed one.ConclusionsDespite near-universal appreciation of the potential for social media to serve as a component of public health strategy, a small minority are actually engaged in this space professionally, whereas most are either disinterested or actively opposed to professional engagement. Social media is seen by most as more useful for spreading information than obtaining it. As public discourse on a number of critical health topics continues to be influenced and sometimes shaped by discussions online from Twitter to Facebook, it would seem that greater discourse is needed about when and how public health professionals should engage in these media, and also how personal, institutional, and professional barriers to greater use of social media may be overcome.

The Acceptability Among Health Researchers and Clinicians of Social Media to Translate Research Evidence to Clinical Practice: Mixed-Methods Survey and Interview Study

“…Despite the perceived barriers to using social media for communicating research or clinical information, most participants in this study saw a role for social media in obtaining or disseminating research evidence, which is considerably more than reported in previous literature [8]. Social media has several features that enhance its utility for dissemination of research evidence, which may have contributed to this result.…”

Marijuana-Related Posts on Instagram

“…Our results show that marijuana-related content was commonly shared by those of an African American background and who are relatively popular and active on Instagram; these findings also correspond with our Twitter study about individuals who tweet about marijuana (Cavazos-Rehg et al 2015b). In terms of implications of our findings, there is a growing body of work on how to utilize social media as a tool for health-related research dissemination (Allen et al 2013; Finch et al 2013; Harris et al 2013; Keller et al 2014). In this regard, it may be useful for individuals designing prevention messages about marijuana on social media to consider the typology of individuals who are socially networking about marijuana-related content.…”

Evaluation of Diet-Related Infographics on Pinterest for Use of Behavior Change Theories: A Content Analysis

“…In general, however, these results may indicate that businesses and individuals who create nutrition infographics for Pinterest lack the training to effectively incorporate HBT into social media campaigns. While research elsewhere indicates that health professionals currently use and understand social media in vocational roles only minimally [47,49,50], the creation of accurate nutrition infographics that include HBT by health professionals may allow Pinterest to be used as an effective health promotion tool.…”