Twittering on about mental health: is it worth the effort?

Abstract

The medical community disseminates information increasingly using social media.Randomised controlled trials are being conducted in this area to evaluate effectiveness of social media with mixed results so far but more trials are likely to be published in the coming years. One recent twitter randomised control trial using Cochrane Schizophrenia Group reviews suggest that tweets increase the hits to the target webpage by about threefold and time spent on the webpage is also increased threefold when referrals come in via twitter. These are early findings and need further replication. Twitter appeals to professionals, entertainers, and politicians amongst others as a means of networking with peers and connecting with the wider public.Twitter in particular seems to be well placed for use by the medical community and is effective in promoting messages, updating information, interacting with each other both locally and internationally and more so during conferences. Twitter is also increasingly used to disseminate evidence in addition to traditional media such as academic peer reviewed journals. Caution is required using twitter as inadvertent tweets can lead to censure. Overall, the use of twitter responsibly by the medical community will increase visibility of research findings and ensure up to date evidence is readily accessible. This should open the door for further trials of different social media platforms to evaluate their effectiveness in disseminating accurate high quality information instantaneously to a global audience.

Analyzing Psychotherapy on Twitter: An 11-Year Analysis of Tweets From Major U.S. Media Outlets

“…Posting links to scientific articles can expand readership to a wider audience. For example, three tweets about a Cochrane review increased visits to its webpage, and readers linking to the webpage via Twitter spent more time on the page than those arriving from other sources ( 53 ).…”

Mediterranean Diet Social Network Impact along 11 Years in the Major US Media Outlets: Thematic and Quantitative Analysis Using Twitter

“…Thus, involvement of media outlets is desirable for promoting the MedDiet among Americans, as recommended in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines [ 75 ]. Posting links to scientific articles can expand readership to a wider audience; for example, three tweets about a Cochrane review increased hits to its Webpage threefold, and readers linking to the Webpage via Twitter spent threefold more time on the page than those arriving from other sources [ 76 ]. Collective health behavior has a powerful impact on individual behavior [ 77 ].…”

Social media and schizophrenia: An update on clinical applications

“…Likewise, 68.3% of Turkish Twitter posts containing schizophrenia were deemed stigmatizing[ 24 ]. Several efforts have been made to assess public perception and improve awareness through Twitter[ 23 - 25 ], YouTube[ 26 - 28 ], Facebook[ 29 , 30 ], Instagram[ 30 , 31 ] and Weibo[ 32 ] (a Chinese social media platform). Social media has demonstrated potential to reduce stigma of schizophrenia, which may indirectly benefit patients’ daily interactions and sense of well-being.…”