Social media photos of substance use and their relationship to attitudes and behaviors among ethnic and racial minority emerging adult men living in low-income areas

The Gezi Park demonstrations across Turkey in the early summer of 2013 offered another opportunity to examine the role played by social media in a social movement. This survey of 967 ethnic (Turkish or Kurdish) minorities living in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany focuses on attitudes and behaviors alongside uses of offline and online networks to make connections with others during and after Gezi. We investigate whether the respondents living in the diaspora experienced communication-generated social capital. We also examine whether the social capital already built through lives spent in Europe, where connections to majority populations had been forged, was at least temporarily reversed through a process of re-bonding, as ethnic minorities turned their attention and loyalty to the social movement in Turkey.

Download Full-text

Youth Study Recruitment Using Paid Advertising on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook: Cross-Sectional Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.14080 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Kelsey Lynett Ford ◽

Tashuna Albritton ◽

Tara A Dunn ◽

Kacy Crawford ◽

Jessica Neuwirth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Health Research ◽

Conversion Rate ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Attitudes And Behaviors ◽

Study Recruitment ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

And Behaviors ◽

Youth Study

BACKGROUND The use of paid social media advertising for targeted study recruitment is an effective strategy in health research and evaluation, specifically to reach diverse youth participants. Although the literature adequately describes the utility of Facebook in recruitment, limited information exists for social media platforms that are more popular with youth, specifically Instagram and Snapchat. OBJECTIVE This paper outlines a paid advertising approach using Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook to evaluate a statewide youth marijuana prevention campaign. The objective of this study was to compare recruitment metrics across Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook for two surveys documenting youth knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to retail marijuana in Colorado post legalization. In addition, the study assessed the feasibility of using Instagram and Snapchat as effective additions to Facebook for youth study recruitment. METHODS A social media recruitment strategy was used to conduct two cross-sectional surveys of youth, aged 13 to 20 years, in Colorado. Geographically targeted ads across 3 social media platforms encouraged the completion of a Web-based self-administered survey. Ad Words and Snap Ads were used to deploy and manage advertising campaigns, including ad design, placement, and analysis. Ad costs and recruitment metrics (ie, impressions, link clicks, and conversion rates) were calculated across the three social media platforms. RESULTS Over two 1-month periods, 763,613 youth were reached (ie, impressions), 6089 of them clicked survey links (ie, clicks), and 828 eligible youth completed surveys about knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to retail marijuana. Instagram converted 36.13% (803/2222) of impressions to clicks (ie, conversion rate) in the first survey and 0.87% (864/98982) in the second survey. Snapchat generated the most impressions and link clicks, but it did so with the lowest conversion rate for both surveys, with a 1.40% (1600/114,200) conversion rate in the first survey and a 0.36% (1818/504700) conversion rate in the second survey. Facebook maintained a consistent conversion rate of roughly 2% across both surveys, despite reductions in budget for the second survey. The cost-per-click ranged between US $0.25 and $0.37 across the three platforms, with Snapchat as both the most cost-effective platform in the first survey and the most expensive platform in the second survey. CONCLUSIONS Recruitment and enrollment outcomes indicate the use of Instagram and Snapchat, in addition to Facebook, may be a modern, useful, and cost-effective approach to reach youth with surveys on sensitive health topics. As the use of Facebook declines among youth, the use of more popular social media platforms can augment study recruitment for health research and evaluation efforts.

Download Full-text

The Effectiveness of Varied Forms of Education in Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Veganism

Journal of Student Research ◽

10.47611/jsrhs.v9i2.1046 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Ava Seiffer ◽

Maura Large

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Native Americans ◽

Research Question ◽

Large Population ◽

The United States ◽

Social Consciousness ◽

Animal Products ◽

Media Campaigns ◽

Attitudes And Behaviors ◽

And Behaviors

In today’s society, the number of people who are socially conscious is rising as information becomes increasingly available. Veganism is one expression of social consciousness and while a diet that abstains from animal products dates back to the days of Native Americans, a poll conducted by Gallup found that only three percent of the United States population is vegan (McCarthy). Many studies previously conducted have synthesized the reasons why people choose to be vegan, but none of them have touched on how to best shift attitudes and behaviors of non-practitioners. According to a Vomad study, 68% of vegans were abstaining from consuming animals due to the ill-treatment of animals by society. This means that a large population of practitioners adopted veganism through becoming educated about the treatment of animals. The origins of veganism are rooted in Native Americans’ notions of duality with nature. Modern philosophical theories regarding the treatment of animals which are intended to educate society includes Ecological Animalism, focused on dualism between humans and nature, and Ontological Veganism, focused on the equality of all living beings and the morality of inflicting pain on others. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a pro-vegan organization, has chosen to educate through polarizing marketing and social media campaigns. This poses my research question: How effective is education on the philosophies of veganism in influencing non-vegans’ attitudes and behaviors as compared to education through polarizing marketing and social media campaigns?

Download Full-text