Health Information in the Era of Social Media: An Analysis of the Nature and Accuracy of Posts Made by Public Facebook Pages for Patients with Endometriosis

Abstract

Study Objective: To analyze the nature and accuracy of social media (Facebook) content related to endometriosis. Design: Retrospective content analysis. Setting: Social media platform, Facebook. Participants: Social media posts on Facebook endometriosis pages. Interventions: A search of public Facebook pages was performed using the key word "endometriosis." Posts from the month-long study period were categorized and analyzed for accuracy. Two independent researchers used thematic evaluation to place posts into the following 11 categories: educational, emotional support, advocacy, discussion, events, humor, promotional, recipes, resources, surveys, and other. Posts categorized as educational were further subcategorized and reviewed. Each posted fact was cross-referenced in peer-reviewed scientific journals to determine whether the claim made was evidence-based. Engagement in a post was calculated by taking the sum of comments, shares, and reactions. Measurements and Main Results: A total of 53 Facebook pages meeting inclusion criteria were identified and 1464 posts from the study period were evaluated. Emotional support posts comprised the largest category of posts (48%) followed by educational posts (21%). Within the educational category, the epidemiology and pathophysiology subcategory comprised the largest group (42.0%) followed by the symptom's subcategory (19.6%). Post category had an effect on the amount of post engagement (p-value <.001) with emotional posts generating 70% of the overall engagement. The subcategories of the educational posts demonstrated a similar effect on engagement (p-value <.001). Posts were more engaging if they contained epidemiology and pathophysiology information with 44% of all engagement of educational posts occurring within this subcategory. Educational posts were found to be 93.93% accurate. There was no correlation between post engagement and post information accuracy (p-value = .312). Conclusion: Facebook pages offer emotional support and education to people with endometriosis. Most information found in these Facebook pages is evidence-based. Clinicians should consider discussing the use of Facebook pages with their patients diagnosed with endometriosis.

Regarding “Health Information in the Era of Social Media: An Analysis of the Nature and Accuracy of Posts Made by Public Facebook Pages for Patients with Endometriosis”

“…We thank Dr. Carneiro for her knowledgeable comments on our previously published article, "Health Information in the Era of Social Media: An Analysis of the Nature and Accuracy of Posts Made by Public Facebook Pages for Patients with Endometriosis" [1]. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the issues raised in the letter.…”

“…I read with great interest the article by Towne et al [1]. The coronavirus disease pandemic has shown all of us the importance of using social media platforms for informing the public, as well as highlighted the devastating adverse effects that may arise from their improper use.…”

“…Endometriosis is a chronic benign disease that may affect millions of women worldwide and attracts social media attention. The topic, however, has been scarcely studied; a PubMed search using the terms "Facebook" and "endometriosis" revealed only 5 articles, 2 of which focused on endometriosis-related Facebook pages and their content: ours [3] and the study under discussion [1].…”

“…Towne et al [1] assessed the number of likes and followers for each Facebook page in March, which is Endometriosis Awareness Month. This may have affected the results because in March endometriosis receives huge publicity, and thus the number of likes and followers may have increased during this period but decreased afterward.…”

Eye Tracking and an A/B Split Test for Social Media Marketing Optimisation: The Connection between the User Profile and Ad Creative Components

“…Over the last decade, companies have conducted their business by integrating SMM to improve their marketing strategy [71][72][73][74][75][76][77], which is also true for the dental industry [68,[78][79][80][81][82].…”