scholarly journals A Call for a Public Health Agenda for Social Media Research (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry Pagoto ◽  
Molly E Waring ◽  
Ran Xu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Health Agenda

UNSTRUCTURED Research has revealed both the benefits and harms of social media use, but the public has very little guidance on how best to use social media to maximize the benefits to their health and well-being while minimizing the potential harms. Given that social media is intricately embedded in our lives, and we now have an entire generation of social media natives, the time has come for a public health research agenda to guide not only the public’s use of social media but also the design of social media platforms in ways that improve health and well-being. In this viewpoint we propose such a public health agenda for social media research that is framed around three broad questions: (1) How much social media use is unhealthy and what individual and contextual factors shape that relationship; (2) What are ways social media can be used to improve physical and mental well-being; and (3) How does health (mis)information spread, how does it shape attitudes, beliefs and behavior, and what policies or public health strategies are effective in disseminating legitimate health information while curbing the spread of health misinformation? We also discuss four key challenges that impede progress on this research agenda: negative sentiment about social media among the public and scientific community, a poorly regulated research landscape, poor access to social media data, and the lack of a cohesive academic field. Social media has revolutionized modern communication in ways that bring us closer to a global society, but we currently stand at an inflection point. A public health agenda for social media research will serve as a compass to guide us toward social media becoming a powerful tool for the public good.

scholarly journals A Call for a Public Health Agenda for Social Media Research

10.2196/16661 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e16661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry Pagoto ◽  
Molly E Waring ◽  
Ran Xu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Health Agenda

Research has revealed both the benefits and harms of social media use, but the public has very little guidance on how best to use social media to maximize the benefits to their health and well-being while minimizing the potential harms. Given that social media is intricately embedded in our lives, and we now have an entire generation of social media natives, the time has come for a public health research agenda to guide not only the public’s use of social media but also the design of social media platforms in ways that improve health and well-being. In this viewpoint we propose such a public health agenda for social media research that is framed around three broad questions: (1) How much social media use is unhealthy and what individual and contextual factors shape that relationship; (2) What are ways social media can be used to improve physical and mental well-being; and (3) How does health (mis)information spread, how does it shape attitudes, beliefs and behavior, and what policies or public health strategies are effective in disseminating legitimate health information while curbing the spread of health misinformation? We also discuss four key challenges that impede progress on this research agenda: negative sentiment about social media among the public and scientific community, a poorly regulated research landscape, poor access to social media data, and the lack of a cohesive academic field. Social media has revolutionized modern communication in ways that bring us closer to a global society, but we currently stand at an inflection point. A public health agenda for social media research will serve as a compass to guide us toward social media becoming a powerful tool for the public good.

scholarly journals ‘I feel the irritation and frustration all over the body’ Affective ambiguities in networked parenting culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 136787792110035
Author(s):  
Mari Lehto ◽  
Susanna Paasonen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Research Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Study Participants

This article investigates the affective power of social media by analysing everyday encounters with parenting content among mothers. Drawing on data composed of diaries of social media use and follow-up interviews with six women, we ask how our study participants make sense of their experiences of parenting content and the affective intensities connected to it. Despite the negativity involved in reading and participating in parenting discussions, the participants find themselves wanting to maintain the very connections that irritate them, or even evoke a sense of failure, as these also yield pleasure, joy and recognition. We suggest that the ambiguities addressed in our research data speak of something broader than the specific experiences of the women in question. We argue that they point to the necessity of focusing on, and working through affective ambiguity in social media research in order to gain fuller understanding the complex appeal of platforms and exchanges.

scholarly journals How changing API terms changed Instagram's domain? A bibliometric analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hartman ◽  
Tereza Simova
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Body Image Dissatisfaction ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Application Programming ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research

In 2018 Facebook blocked a public Application Programming Interfaces (API) that could be used to download data from Facebook and Instagram. Much uncertainty still exists about the effect on social media research due to changes in Instagram API conditions. The presented paper provides an overview of the Instagram domain in terms of a research area. The main focus of this research is on the comparison of the key topics before and after the change of the Instagram API terms (comparing Instagram's research domain before and after 2018). A partial goal was to find out how the change in the conditions of the Instagram API has changed the number of social media research itself. We used a bibliometric approach to map the domain of Instagram. The paper has identified key topics in the domain of Instagram. Between the years 2010 and 2018 the key topics were gender, behavior on social media, dissemination of information, and platform selection. After the change of Instagram API conditions, after 2018, the key topics were gratifications, body image, dissatisfaction, and basic Instagram topics. The paper has found that generally, there was no change in research topics, nor the number of papers published after the Instagram API condition. Further study should focus on establish the relationships between Instagram use and psychological well-being; investigate the motives for Instagram use a study the effect of Instagram API on research with the use of different methods; gaining a better understanding of social media consumer activity; establish whatever our key topics are relevant to other social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter or Tiktok); study Instagram domain on different citation databases (e.g., in Scopus). This paper has also raised important questions about whether the Instagram API should be or should not be open for research purposes.

scholarly journals Social media and mental health: Reviewing effects on eudaimonic well-being

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Meier ◽  
Leonard Reinecke
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Resilience Factors ◽  
Omission Bias ◽  
Health And Well Being

Do social media affect users’ mental health and well-being? By now, considerable research has addressed this highly contested question. Prior studies have investigated the effects of social media use on hedonic well-being (e.g., affect and life satisfaction), psychopathology (e.g., depressive or anxiety symptoms), or psychosocial risk/resilience factors (e.g., loneliness, stress, self-esteem). Yet, public concern over social media effects often centers on more long-term negative outcomes, which may be better captured by indicators of eudaimonic well-being. Indeed, neglecting the eudaimonic side of well-being may have introduced outcome omission bias, since eudaimonia is both conceptually and empirically distinct from other dimensions of mental health and may be uniquely affected by social media use. Specifically, psychology currently theorizes eudaimonic well-being to be best represented by the experiences of (a) meaningfulness, (b) authenticity, and (c) self-actualization. A research synthesis of how social media use relates to these core indicators of eudaimonia is currently missing, however. We thus present a first narrative review that synthesizes both theoretical and empirical links between three key social media uses (i.e., active, passive, and “screen time”) and eudaimonic well-being. The synthesis shows that while there are indeed several plausible theoretical links, the evidence is too scarce and inconsistent to allow definitive conclusions at this time. We instead give recommendations for how the field can close important gaps by investigating whether social media afford or constrain opportunities to find meaning, live authentically, and grow as a person.

scholarly journals Advancing environmental public health in Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Marcelo Korc ◽  
Fred Hauchman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Public Health ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health And Well Being

This paper highlights the important leadership role of the public health sector, working with other governmental sectors and nongovernmental entities, to advance environmental public health in Latin America and the Caribbean toward the achievement of 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 3: Health and Well-Being. The most pressing current and future environmental public health threats are discussed, followed by a brief review of major historical and current international and regional efforts to address these concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of three major components of a regional environmental public health agenda that responsible parties can undertake to make significant progress toward ensuring the health and well-being of all people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

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.

Communicating the Public Health Risks of Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda R. Weathers ◽  
Edward Maibach ◽  
Matthew Nisbet
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Health Community ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Health And Well Being

Effective public communication and engagement have played important roles in ameliorating and managing a wide range of public health problems including tobacco and substance use, cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, vaccine preventable diseases, sudden infant death syndrome, and automobile injuries and fatalities. The public health community must harness what has been learned about effective public communication to alert and engage the public and policy makers about the health threats of climate change. This need is driven by three main factors. First, people’s health is already being harmed by climate change, and the magnitude of this harm is almost certain to get much worse if effective actions are not soon taken to limit climate change and to help communities successfully adapt to unavoidable changes in their climate. Therefore, public health organizations and professionals have a responsibility to inform communities about these risks and how they can be averted. Second, historically, climate change public engagement efforts have focused primarily on the environmental dimensions of the threat. These efforts have mobilized an important but still relatively narrow range of the public and policy makers. In contrast, the public health community holds the potential to engage a broader range of people, thereby enhancing climate change understanding and decision-making capacity among members of the public, the business community, and government officials. Third, many of the actions that slow or prevent climate change, and that protect human health from the harms associated with climate change, also benefit health and well-being in ways unrelated to climate change. These “cobenefits” to societal action on climate change include reduced air and water pollution, increased physical activity and decreased obesity, reduced motor-vehicle–related injuries and death, increased social capital in and connections across communities, and reduced levels of depression. Therefore, from a public health perspective, actions taken to address climate change are a “win-win” in that in addition to responsibly addressing climate change, they can help improve public health and well-being in other ways as well. Over the past half decade, U.S.-based researchers have been investigating the factors that shape public views about the health risks associated with climate change, the communication strategies that motivate support for actions to reduce these risks, and the practical implications for public health organizations and professionals who seek to effectively engage individuals and their communities. This research serves as a model for similar work that can be conducted across country settings and international publics. Until only recently, the voices of public health experts have been largely absent from the public dialogue on climate change, a dialogue that is often erroneously framed as an “economy versus the environment” debate. Introducing the public health voice into the public dialogue can help communities see the issue in a new light, motivating and promoting more thoughtful decision making.

scholarly journals How do Norwegian adolescents experience the role of social media in relation to mental health and well-being: a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland ◽  
Viktor Schønning ◽  
Randi Træland Hella ◽  
Marius Veseth ◽  
Jens Christoffer Skogen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Mental Health Issues ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Background During the last decade, social media has permeated most parts of society. Adolescents are particularly active users of social media, and their use has been suggested as a contributing factor to mental health issues in this group. Quantitative studies have found associations between the frequency and/or duration of social media use and more mental health issues. However, most studies are cross-sectional and the identified associations are weak and of questionable practical significance. The aim of this study was to investigate adolescents’ lived experiences of using social media, focusing on both negative and positive aspects, using a qualitative approach. Qualitative research enables in-depth explorations of the experiences of individuals, nuance quantitative findings, and offer the perspective of adolescents into policies regarding social media use. Methods Experiences and perspectives of 27 adolescents from two senior high schools in Norway were gathered using focus group interviews (mean age 16.8, range 15–18). The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results According to the participants, social media use catalyse changes to how people communicate and relate to each other (theme 1). Some changes were positive, in terms of facilitating social connectedness, while others were negative, such as people behaving worse than in face-to-face interactions. Further, social media use affected the participants at the individual level (theme 2); positively in terms of a sense of belonging and social support, and negatively in terms of perceived stress, body pressure, and displacing other activities such as sleep and homework. The motivations for using, or not using, social media were multifaceted (theme 3), reflecting the positive and negative aspects of social media in terms of interpersonal and personal consequences. Conclusion Social media was described as an important part of the participants’ everyday life, with both a positive and negative impact on their mental health and well-being. Considering the compelling nature of social media and adolescents’ relatively limited self-regulatory capacities, efforts to modify social media use should avoid relying on self-regulation, while also recognizing the importance of social media as an arena for peer interaction.

scholarly journals Adolescent Social Media User Types and their Mental Health and Well-being: results from a longitudinal survey of 13–14-year-olds in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizzy Winstone ◽  
Becky Mars ◽  
CMA Haworth ◽  
Jon Heron ◽  
Judi Kidger
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Health And Well Being

Background There is mixed evidence as to the effects of different types of social media use on mental health, but previous research has been platform-specific and has focused on an oversimplified distinction between active and passive use. This study aimed to identify different underlying subgroups of adolescent social media user based on their pattern of social media activities and test associations between user type and future mental health. Methods Students from nineteen schools (N=2,456) in south-west England completed an online survey measuring thirteen social media activities and four psychosocial outcomes (past year self-harm, depression, anxiety and poor well-being) at age 13 years (October 2019) and repeated a year later (October 2020; aged 14 years). Latent class analysis using Mplus identified distinct classes of social media user. A bias-adjusted three-step model was used to test associations between class membership at baseline and mental health at follow-up. Analyses were adjusted for gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, social media screen-time and baseline mental health.Results A four-class model of social media user at baseline was selected based on fit statistics and interpretability. User types were labelled High Communicators; Moderate Communicators; Broadcasters; and Minimal users. Broadcasters at age 13 had the poorest mental health outcomes at age 14, with mental health and well-being generally better in the two Communicator groups. Conclusions Findings suggest that adolescents with high levels of content sharing – in addition to socialising and browsing online – are most likely to be experiencing poor mental health a year later. Recommendations regarding social media use should move beyond screen-time to consider different user types, and mental health implications of their engagement with different online activities.

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