scholarly journals Using Social Media as an Effective Tool for Motivating Cancer Prevention

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 199s-199s
Author(s):  
K. Chandan ◽  
A. Yadav ◽  
A. Chandra ◽  
R. Mehrotra
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Cancer Prevention ◽  
Web Search ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
World Population ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Prevention Methods ◽  
Facebook Pages

Background: Cancer is among leading cause of death (8.8 million) worldwide. Around 14.2 million new cases were recorded in 2012 and increasing each year. On the other hand there are about 2.8 billion users of different social media platforms (i.e., 37% of the world population). This tremendous power of social media can be used for disseminating effective information and communication on cancer prevention more efficiently (i.e., in less time to more people) to create awareness against the disease. Tobacco, alcohol and food industry have been using social media for aggressive advertising and marketing of their products. There is an urgent need to maximally use this medium of communication for advancing cancer prevention globally. Aim: To assess the role of social media in implementing effective health promotion strategies to advance cancer prevention. Methods: Extensive Web search has been done on the way social media (e.g., Facebook) is used for advancing public health communication and how it has been leveraged in the field of cancer prevention. Several Facebook pages and groups, YouTube channels were analyzed thoroughly. Various reports and articles on social media have been reviewed and analyzed. Results: Social media has been found very effective in terms of engaging greater number of population globally. Many Facebook pages and groups are available that provide information regarding specific cancer or provide support for cancer survivors. Several informative videos related to cancer prevention and survivors' stories are broadcast on various YouTube channels run by individuals, government, and nongovernment organizations. There have been many Instagram accounts on cancer but many of them don't provide relevant information on cancer prevention. However, genuine and relevant information are available through several Twitter handles. These social media platforms have very high penetration power. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter have monthly reach to more than 1871, 1000, 500 and 263 million users respectively. This large number of user base can become a great source of spreading information on various aspects of cancer prevention through a comprehensive social media campaign. Conclusion: Social media platforms improve outreach and can also help carrying the relevant preventive health messages on cancer prevention, not only for the cancer patient but the public at large. Social media will help in amplifying the messages to the global mass while motivating prevention and health promotion to achieve public health objectives.

The assessment of the accuracy and credibility of cardiovascular health information on social media platforms

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A Ragab ◽  
J.T Arinze ◽  
F Akbulut ◽  
R Orji
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Health Information ◽  
External Validity ◽  
Cardiovascular Health ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
World Population ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Interpretation Of Results

Abstract Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a major cause of death worldwide. Effective and accurate dissemination of scientific information is key to addressing this public health problem. Social media platforms play major roles in public health promotion considering that a significant percent of the world population use social media. About 40% of the adults in the US use social media for health information. There is little knowledge about the accuracy and credibility of CVD related information posted on social media platforms. Purpose The study aimed to assess the scientific credibility and accuracy of cardiovascular health information of highly shared social media posts. Methods Cardiovascular related posts on social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) were mined using the content analyzer platform (BuzzSumo). All articles published between June 2018 and June 2019, with over 10,000 shares, were selected and ranked by two physicians based on the accuracy and credibility of the titles, reported statistics, interpretation of results, sample size, and external validity. A point was scored for each of the five assessment criteria and articles with scores of less than five were considered to be misleading. Results A total of 50 articles, with 3,397,918 shares (median: 44350, IQR:25100–78000), were selected and scored. Misleading articles were 32/50 (64%) with 2,528,800 shares (median: 44350, IQR: 39575–80250). Twenty-six percent of the articles had misleading titles, 16% had misleading reported statistics, 30% had wrong interpretation of results, 36% reported small sample size studies, and 54% of them lacked external validity. Overall, articles on diet (41%) had more misleading titles than articles on other topics (14%), p=0.03. Conclusion More than half of the articles on widely used social media platforms contain misleading information on cardiovascular health. A concerted effort is needed to ensure the accuracy and credibility of public health information shared on these platforms to avoid misleading users. Figure 1 Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

scholarly journals Exploring Political Parties on Facebook: Literature Review of the Two Main Political Parties in Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
John Demuyakor
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
Facebook Pages

Abstract Ghana currently has over 25 registered political parties. The two key political parties in Ghana are the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC). Before the introduction of social media, especially Facebook, political parties in Ghana employed traditional communication strategies, such as TV, Radio, and News Papers, to execute political communication. However, since 2012 political parties in Ghana have deployed and relied heavily on social media platforms, particularly Facebook, as a political communication tool to disseminate their political manifestoes to the electorates in order to clinch political power. This article adopted a purely descriptive approach with an emphasis on document analysis to review relevant information and literature for the study. Hence literature is sourced from secondary sources like a pool of online libraries, political party’s websites/Facebook pages, and other scholarly research related to the subject under investigation. The objective of this paper is to carefully explore political parties on Facebook, emphasizing the two main Political parties in Ghana, thus the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Instagramming our way through public health communication: why and who is using it?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Vareda ◽  
T Garcia ◽  
J Rachadell
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Healthy Lifestyles ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Non Communicable Diseases

Abstract Background From disease prevention to health promotion, communication is key for Public Health (PH) practice and, according to the 9th Essential Public Health Operation its goal is to improve populations health literacy and capacity to access, understand and use information. Though social media is frequently presented as a potentially useful tool for PH communication, there is a lack of evidence about its effectiveness and impact on PH outcomes. This study researches Instagram® as a PH tool and aims to know who is using it, what content is shared on the platform and how much engagement there is. Methods This cross-sectional study regards information on 1000 Instagram® posts with the hashtags publichealth, publichealthpromotion, healthpromotion, publichealthmatters and publichealtheducation. Authors categorized post content and creators, and reviewed the number of likes and comments per post to determine engagement. Data analysis was performed on IBM SPSS® Statistics. Results The most common content categories were communicable diseases (n = 383), non-communicable diseases (n = 258) and healthy lifestyles (n = 143). Health professionals post more about communicable diseases (43,6%) and non-professionals about healthy lifestyles (36,1%). Non-professionals (n = 191) post about PH issues almost as much as health professionals (n = 220) and PH associations (n = 201). Most don't reference their sources (n = 821). Posts on communicable diseases have the most likes and comments per post (mean of 172 likes and 3,1 comments). Conclusions Half the Instagram® posts analysed in this study were made by health professionals or organizations. Communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and healthy lifestyles were the most frequent content categories and had the most engagement. The majority of posts didn't reference their sources. Though Instagram® seems to be a potential PH communication tool, further research is needed to confirm its benefits for PH. Key messages Social media platforms like Instagram® are potentially powerful tools for PH communication. There is a need to understand the efficacy of social media as health promotion tools.

A shift from science to politics : a content analysis of COVID-19 Videos on YouTube (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chyun-Fung Shi ◽  
Matthew C So ◽  
Sophie Stelmach ◽  
Arielle Earn ◽  
David J D Earn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Conflicting Information ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic where social media platforms relayed information on a large scale, enabling an “infodemic” of conflicting information which undermined the global response to the pandemic. Understanding how the information circulated and evolved on social media platforms is essential for planning future public health campaigns. OBJECTIVE This study investigated what types of themes about COVID-19 were most viewed on YouTube during the first 8 months of the pandemic, and how COVID-19 themes progressed over this period. METHODS We analyzed top-viewed YouTube COVID-19 related videos in English from from December 1, 2019 to August 16, 2020 with an open inductive content analysis. We coded 536 videos associated with 1.1 billion views across the study period. East Asian countries were the first to report the virus, while most of the top-viewed videos in English were from the US. Videos from straight news outlets dominated the top-viewed videos throughout the outbreak, and public health authorities contributed the fewest. Although straight news was the dominant COVID-19 video source with various types of themes, its viewership per video was similar to that for entertainment news and YouTubers after March. RESULTS We found, first, that collective public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic on YouTube peaked around March 2020, before the outbreak peaked, and flattened afterwards despite a spike in worldwide cases. Second, more videos focused on prevention early on, but videos with political themes increased through time. Third, regarding prevention and control measures, masking received much less attention than lockdown and social distancing in the study period. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a transition of focus from science to politics on social media intensified the COVID-19 infodemic and may have weakened mitigation measures during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that authorities should consider co-operating with reputable social media influencers to promote health campaigns and improve health literacy. In addition, given high levels of globalization of social platforms and polarization of users, tailoring communication towards different digital communities is likely to be essential.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON SALES FUNNELS IN B2C AND B2B SEGMENTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kiselicki ◽  
Saso Josimovski ◽  
Lidija Pulevska Ivanovska ◽  
Mijalce Santa
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
World Population ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Republic ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Sales Funnel ◽  
Media Data

The research focuses on introducing social media platforms as either a complementary or main channel in the company sales funnel. Internet technologies and Web 2.0 continue to provide innovations in digital marketing, with the latest iteration being lead generation services through social media. Data shows that almost half of the world population is active on social media, with the new Generation Alpha being projected to be entirely online dependent and proficient in the use of new technologies. The paper provides an overview of the digitalization of sales funnels, as well as the benefits that social media platforms can offer if implemented correctly. Secondary data provides the basis for transforming sales funnels with social media, where previous research provides limited data on the effectiveness of these types of efforts. Primary data demonstrates that introducing social media platforms can provide improvements of up to 3 to 4 times in analyzed case studies, as well as the shorter time when deciding about purchase in use case scenarios. Social media advertising can also be utilized to shorten the sales funnel process and serve as a unified point of entrance and exit in the first few stages.

scholarly journals Prevalence of health misinformation in social media: a systematic review (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Suarez-Lledo ◽  
Javier Alvarez-Galvez
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The propagation of health misinformation through social media has become a major public health concern over the last two decades. Although today there is broad agreement among researchers, health professionals, and policy makers on the need to control and combat health misinformation, the magnitude of this problem is still unknown. Consequently, before adopting the necessary measures for the adequate control of health misinformation in social media, it is fundamental to discover both the most prevalent health topics and the social media platforms from which these topics are initially framed and subsequently disseminated. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aims to identify the main health misinformation topics and their prevalence on different social media platforms, focusing on methodological quality and the diverse solutions that are being implemented to address this public health concern. METHODS This systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA). We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus and the Web of Science for articles published in English before March 2019 with a particular focus on studying health misinformation in social media. We defined health misinformation as a health-related claim based on anecdotal evidence, false, or misleading due to the lack of existing scientific knowledge. The criteria for inclusion were: 1) articles that focused on health misinformation in social media, including those in which the authors discussed the consequences or purposes of health misinformation; and 2) studies that described empirical findings regarding the measurement of health misinformation in these platforms. RESULTS A total of 69 studies were identified as eligible, covering a wide range of health topics and social media platforms. The topics were articulated around six principal categories: vaccines (32%), drugs or smoking (22%), non-communicable disease (19%), pandemics (10%), eating disorders (9%), and medical treatments (7%). Studies were mainly based on five methodological approaches: Social Network Analysis (28%), Evaluating Content (26%), Evaluating Quality (24%), Content/Text analysis (16%) and Sentiment Analysis (6%). Health misinformation proved to be the most more prevalent in studies related to smoking products and drugs such as opioids or marijuana. Posts with misinformation reached 87% in some studies focused in smoking products. Health misinformation about vaccines was also very common (43%), but studies reported different levels of misinformation depending on the different vaccines, with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine being the most affected. Secondly, health misinformation related to diets or pro eating disorders (pro-ED) arguments were moderate in comparison to the aforementioned topics (36%). Studies focused on diseases (i.e. non-communicable diseases and pandemics) also reported moderate misinformation rates (40%), especially in the case of cancer. Finally, the lowest levels of health misinformation were related to medical treatments (30%). CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of health misinformation was most common on Twitter and on issues related to smoking products and drugs. However, misinformation is also high on major public health issues such as vaccines and diseases. Our study offers a comprehensive characterization of the dominant health misinformation topics and a comprehensive description of their prevalence in different social media platforms, which can guide future studies and help in the development of evidence-based digital policy actions plans. CLINICALTRIAL

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

Supporting Policy-Makers with Social Media Analysis Tools to Get Aware of Citizens' Opinions

2014 ◽  
pp. 121-156
Author(s):  
Timo Wandhöfer ◽  
Steve Taylor ◽  
Miriam Fernandez ◽  
Beccy Allen ◽  
Harith Alani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Facebook Pages

The role of social media in politics has increased considerably. A particular challenge is how to deal with the deluge of information generated on social media: it is impractical to read lots of messages with the hope of finding useful information. In this chapter, the authors suggest an alternative approach: utilizing analysis software to extract the most relevant information of the discussions taking place. This chapter discusses the WeGov Toolbox as one concept for policy-makers to deal with the information overload on Social Media, and how it may be applied. Two complementary, in depth case studies were carried out to validate the usefulness of the analysis results of the WeGov Toolbox components' within its target audience's everyday life. Firstly, the authors used the “HeadsUp” forum, operated by the Hansard Society. Here, they were able to compare the key themes and opinions extracted automatically by the Toolbox to a control group of manually pre-analyzed data sets. In parallel, results of analyses based on four weeks' intensive monitoring on policy area-specific Facebook pages selected by German policy makers, as well as topics on Twitter globally and local, were assessed by taking into account their existing experience with content discussed and user behavior in their respective public spheres. The cases show that there are interesting applications for policy-makers to use the Toolbox in combination with online forums (blogs) and social networks, if behavioral user patterns will be considered and the framework will be refined.

New communication technologies, social media, and public health

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Sullivan ◽  
Aaron J. Siegler ◽  
Lisa Hightow-Weidman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Data Services ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Access To Data

New communications technologies constitute a rapidly changing field with tremendous opportunities for public health practice. Platforms include a variety of apps, which share the general characteristics of platforms to share words, text, and video content, but which have important differences in their preferred formats of media, strategies for sharing information within social networks, and user bases. These technologies can facilitate public health efforts through the provision of information, as portals for communication with those in need of services, and as platforms for public health interventions. Social media platforms also give rise to the possibility of using public data to increase understanding of health concerns and programmes—for example, using public data on internet searches or social media postings to identifying trends in infectious diseases. Despite these exciting possibilities, there are important heterogeneities globally in the coverage of smartphone devices, in data speed, and in access to data services. There are also important considerations about possible harms of technologies, and about privacy concerns for users of social media in the context of public health.

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