Social Media and Global Health: Promise and Pitfalls

Kelil, Tatiana; Jaswal, Shama; Matalon, Shanna A.

doi:10.1148/rg.220038

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…6,10 Multiple concerns about the use of social media in the medical realm have been raised, including the spread of false information by those without appropriate credentials, the potential for patient privacy breaches, and patients attempting to self-diagnose and self-treat. [35][36][37][38] Despite these concerns, social media may represent an accessible and digestible way for patients to access health information, including being more readable than information presented in other formats. Specifically, we speculated that medical information presented on social media may meet readability standards making it accessible to the lay public due to the limited space, character limits, and small pieces of information typically shared.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social media is being increasingly used to distribute medical information, both by medical professionals as well as by laypeople, and patients are increasingly relying on social media to better understand their health conditions 6,10 . Multiple concerns about the use of social media in the medical realm have been raised, including the spread of false information by those without appropriate credentials, the potential for patient privacy breaches, and patients attempting to self‐diagnose and self‐treat 35‐38 . Despite these concerns, social media may represent an accessible and digestible way for patients to access health information, including being more readable than information presented in other formats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Readability of Patient‐Facing Social Media Posts on Common Otolaryngologic Diagnoses

Morse,

Odigie,

Gillespie

et al. 2023

Otolaryngol.--head neck surg.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveTo assess the readability of patient‐facing educational information about the most common otolaryngology diagnoses on popular social media platforms.Study DesignCross‐sectional study.SettingSocial media platforms.MethodsThe top 5 otolaryngologic diagnoses were identified from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Database. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram were searched using these terms, and the top 25 patient‐facing posts from unique accounts for each search term and poster type (otolaryngologist, other medical professional, layperson) were identified. Captions, text, and audio from images and video, and linked articles were extracted. The readability of each post element was calculated with multiple readability formulae. Readability was summarized and was compared between poster types, platforms, and search terms via Kruskal‐Wallis testing.ResultsMedian readability, by grade level, by grade level, was greater than 10 for captions, 5 for image‐associated text, and 9 for linked articles. Captions and images in posts by laypeople were significantly more readable than captions by otolaryngologists or other medical professionals, but there was no difference for linked articles. All post components were more readable in posts about cerumen than those about other search terms.ConclusionsWhen examining the readability of posts on social media regarding the most common otolaryngology diagnoses, we found that many posts are less readable than recommended for patients, and found that posts by laypeople were significantly more readable than those by medical professionals. Medical professionals should work to make educational social media posts more readable to facilitate patient comprehension.

show abstract