Social Media Content Analysis of Public Diabetes Facebook Groups

Abstract

Introduction: Relatively little is known about how Facebook groups are used to facilitate diabetes self-management support. This study provides a critical analysis of public diabetes Facebook groups and their content. Methods: Two trained researchers independently identified 34 public Facebook diabetes groups. A coding and classification scheme was applied to the 20 most recent “wall posts” within 15 of the 34 (44.1%) largest groups (n = 300 posts). Nonparametric Mann-Whiney U tests examined differences in group characteristics between groups with more (active) and less (inactive) than 50 posts in the past month. Multivariable logistic regressions evaluated associations between group purpose, post types, membership (engagement leader vs regular user), and modality. Results: We identified 193 458 members of the 34 largest diabetes Facebook groups (Mdn size = 3124 members, IQR = 1298-8523 members). Many groups (20/34, 58.8%) were created to provide instrumental support, while fewer (12/34, 35.8%) aimed to provide emotional support. Nutrition was the only diabetes self-management topic addressed in more than 30% of posts (n = 107). Posts made by engagement leaders were almost five times more likely to appear within inactive compared to active groups. Discussion: Diabetes Facebook groups are used to share both information and emotional support, with greater emphasis placed on sharing information about nutrition. While engagement leaders should theoretically increase the credibility of online forums, frequent posts by group engagement leaders may actually lead to group decay. Health and diabetes educators should consider how to more effectively leverage social media engagement leaders to disseminate valid health information on diabetes self-management.

Factors Engaging Users of Diabetes Social Media Channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: Observational Study

“…Being both ubiquitous and freely accessible, social media channels allow patient associations to share content and connect with individuals interested in their health condition. Representing one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide, diabetes associations and diabetes patient groups can also be found on social media [ 1 - 4 ].…”

“…In a previous study [ 20 ], we surveyed followers of the Norwegian Diabetes Association’s social media channels, and we found that almost all the respondents wanted more content about research and innovation on diabetes in social media groups, preferably in text format. However, other previous studies have reported that social media groups for patients with diabetes mostly shared content about diabetes self-management [ 1 - 4 ], scientific content [ 3 , 4 ], health care services [ 3 , 4 ], diabetes awareness [ 3 , 4 ], personal stories [ 2 ], or humor [ 2 ].…”

Moving Beyond the Gym: A Content Analysis of YouTube as an Information Resource for Physical Literacy

“…YouTube is a public platform and people from wide ranging disciplines and contexts access it for information on broad range of topics and issues. As a continually developing online resource for health information, communication, and promotion, health education researchers have examined the use and effectiveness of specific popular social media sites such as YouTube [15,16,17,18], Pinterest [19,20], Instagram [21], and Facebook [22]. Given the popularity, reach, accessibility and unregulated governance of social media, it is critical that users seek and post/upload information from reputable, qualified and trusted health and medical sources.…”

COVID-19 in the South Pacific: science communication, Facebook and ‘coconut wireless’

“…A purposive sampling method was utilised to include the most reached Facebook pages in each Pacific country so that the data collected would be closely reflective of mainstream regional online public sentiment at the time of analysis. This purposive approach to sampling Facebook groups was inspired by a recent Facebook content analysis project by Stellefson et al [2019] on how Facebook conversations facilitate diabetes self-management support and communication around the medical science of diabetes. The authors selected the 50 largest public diabetes-related Facebook groups based on overall number of members, reach and engagement, with the aim of capturing a strong representative sample of how diabetes is communicated on social media.…”