Social Health Content and Activity on Facebook

Abstract

Facebook (FB) is a popular communication medium and community building tool for health outreach, promotion, and support groups for patients with chronic and rare conditions. Medical writers and health communication specialists are often tasked to write the content and support community interactions in health-related FB interventions. However, studies have reported mixed results at sustaining patient participation and engagement in FB interventions. Questions remain about the relationship between health behavior and FB usage and best strategies for evaluating health-related FB interventions. Furthermore, few studies examine health-related FB usage of people not designated as patients, which might help identify native activities that can sustain participants' interest in and engagement with FB interventions. This study examines offline and online health-related activities of FB to identify characteristics shared by people who use FB for health-related purposes. The data from 455 users indicate that offline social health activities do not transfer online; privacy issues, interaction preferences, and differences between FB and offline networks may be barriers. FB campaigns and interventions should have modest and focused goals, such as supplementing offline activities and increasing preexisting FB activity. Designing FB interventions for networks and social groups with preexisting emotional ties and trust would be ideal.

Mental health toll from the coronavirus: Social media usage reveals Wuhan residents’ depression and secondary trauma in the COVID-19 outbreak

“…This study holds that analyzing social media usage in a pandemic context should help disclose mental health toll. Indeed, the easy access to health information on social media has empowered the public to be more active in evaluating health risks and managing health concerns ( Roundtree, 2016 ; Tonsaker et al, 2014 ). Social media users produce and share timely and locally situated health information in response to public health crises.…”

The Role of Social Media in the Advent of COVID-19 Pandemic: Crisis Management, Mental Health Challenges and Implications

“…74 Indeed, social media platforms have provided easy access to seeking health information, which empowered people to evaluate health-related risks and manage global health concerns. 75,76 Social media users typically.produce and share health information available through local and international sources in response to a worldwide public health crisis. In the meantime, health professionals and governments have been adopting social media tools to contain and manage health crisis adverse consequences, such as the anthrax attack in various US cities in September 2001, 77 the 2015 California measles outbreak, 78 and the 2009 Beijing crisis of H1N1 influenza flu.…”

Identity, victimization, and support: Facebook experiences and mental health among LGBTQ youth

“…To manage outness in this context, LGBTQ youth reported using identity management strategies such as privacy controls, selectively adding friends, creating multiple accounts, restricting self-expression, deleting or untagging posts, selectively displaying information, and restricting LGBTQ-related content to more anonymous online forums (Cooper & Dzara, 2010; Duguay, 2016). Youth also reported frustration with the difficulty and effort these strategies required, as well as some lack of control over information sharing and pressure to connect with professional and family network members on Facebook (Cooper & Dzara, 2010; Duguay, 2016; Fox & Moreland, 2015; Roundtree, 2016). Alternatively, some viewed context collapse positively because it allowed them to easily and efficiently come out to their entire network (Duguay, 2016; Hillier et al, 2012; Taylor et al, 2014).…”

“…Support seeking may also be viewed as a depersonalized and inappropriate way to share information better communicated through a private, personal message (Fox & Moreland, 2015; Vitak & Ellison, 2012). Given complex findings, it is possible seeking support online is beneficial to the extent that it mobilizes offline support interactions (Kang, 2007; Roundtree, 2016; Vitak & Ellison, 2012). …”