TikTok and public health: a proposed research agenda

Zenone, Marco; Ow, Nikki; Barbic, Skye

doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007648

Cited by 62 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Specific to the issues of mental health, TikTok has produced well-being guides in partnership with the several international mental health organizations to support and uptake optimal messaging on the TikTok platform [ 34 ]. However, there is limited insight into the impact of traumatic or “triggering” events posted within the online platform [ 35 ], the use and impact of the TikTok mental health resources, or conversely, the health enhancing impact of positive and supportive messaging among youth who engage with social media [ 36 , 37 ]…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As partnerships between health care professionals and social media platforms emerge, evaluation on effectiveness and best practices will be essential. Interestingly, the call for research related to greater understanding of TikTok health content creators, the integrity of the content, and user reaction and uptake to promote evidence-based information [ 35 ] to TikTok users may be contrary to the current appeal and need for accessible health-related resources that are different from mainstream medicine [ 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Deconstructing TikTok Videos on Mental Health: Cross-sectional, Descriptive Content Analysis

Basch¹,

Donelle²,

Fera³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

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Background Social media platforms that are based on the creation of visual media, such as TikTok, are increasingly popular with adolescents. Online social media networks provide valuable opportunities to connect with each other to share experiences and strategies for health and wellness. Objective The aim of this study was to describe the content of the hashtag #mentalhealth on TikTok. Methods This cross-sectional, descriptive content analysis study included 100 videos with the hashtag #mentalhealth on TikTok. All videos that included the hashtag #mentalhealth were analyzed and coded for the presence of content categories. Additionally, the comments to each video were viewed and coded for content in the following themes: offering support or validation; mentioning experience with suicide or suicidal ideation; mentioning experience with self-harm; describing an experience with hospitalization for mental health issues; describing other mental health issues; and sharing coping strategies, experiences of healing, or ways to feel better. Results Collectively, the 100 videos studied received 1,354,100,000 views; 266,900,000 likes; and 2,515,954 comments. On average, each video received 13,406,930.69 (SD 8,728,095.52) views; 2,657,425.74 (SD 1,449,920.45) likes; and 24,910.44 (SD 21,035.06) comments. The only content category observed in most (51/100, 51%) of the videos included in the sample was “general mental health.” The remaining content categories appeared in less than 50% of the sample. In total, 32% (32/100) of the videos sampled received more than the overall average number of likes (ie, more that 2.67 million likes). Among these 32 videos, 23 (72%) included comments offering support or validation and 20 (62%) included comments that described other mental health issues or struggles. Conclusions With over 1 billion cumulative views, almost half of the assessed TikTok videos included in this study reported or expressed symptoms of mental distress. Future research should focus on the potential role of intervention by health care professionals on social media.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing TikTok Videos on Mental Health: Cross-sectional, Descriptive Content Analysis

Basch¹,

Donelle²,

Fera³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…TikTok’s rising popularity also calls for further research into its potential impact on public health and its role as a corporate political actor. 32 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given TikTok’s popularity among children, our findings support the need for policies that protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing, including that on social networking platforms. TikTok’s rising popularity also calls for further research into its potential impact on public health and its role as a corporate political actor 32…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turning users into ‘unofficial brand ambassadors’: marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages on TikTok

et al. 2022

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IntroductionTikTok has over one billion monthly users and is particularly popular among children. We examined the (1) use of owned media by major unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage brands on TikTok and (2) nature of branded hashtag challenges instigated by such brands and the user-generated content created in response.MethodsWe assessed the (1) content of all videos posted on the accounts of 16 top food and non-alcoholic beverage brands (based on global brand share) as at 30 June 2021, and (2) content and sentiment of a sample of brand-relevant user-generated content created in response to branded hashtag challenges instigated by these brands.ResultsOf 539 videos posted by brands, 60% were posted in the first half of 2021. The most common marketing strategies were branding (87% of videos), product images (85%), engagement (31%) and celebrities/influencers (25%). Engagement included instigation of branded hashtag challenges that encouraged creation of user-generated content featuring brands’ products, brands’ videos and/or branded effects. The total collective views of user-generated content from single challenges ranged from 12.7 million to 107.9 billion. Of a sample of 626 brand-relevant videos generated in response to these challenges, 96% featured branding, 68% product images and 41% branded effects. Most portrayed a positive (73%) or neutral/unclear (25%) sentiment, with few negative (3%).ConclusionUnhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage brands are using TikTok to market brands and products via their own accounts and to encourage users to create and share their own content that features branding and product images. Given TikTok’s popularity among children, this study supports the need for policies that protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing on social networking platforms.

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“…Some researchers have suggested that increased use of social media by adolescents is linked to increased risk of anxiety disorder [31–34 35]. Other reported problems include social comparison, disordered eating; substance use; self-harm and depression [29,36]. In summary, scholarly opinion remains divided on the harms and benefits of social media use by adolescents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Anxiety and TikTok. An exploratory study

Zheluk

Anderson

Dineen-Griffin

2022

Preprint

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INTRODUCTION Social media is ubiquitous in adolescents lives. TikTok is a medium primarily used by adolescents and young adults under 30 years. TikTok is thus an appropriate social media platform with which to examine discussions of anxiety among this age cohort. In this exploratory mixed-methods study we aimed to evaluate the scope of anxiety content available on TikTok in English in December 2021, and to further develop methods for analysing TikTok content. METHOD: We analysed a data set of 147 TikToks with the hashtag #anxiety. The data set consisted both of metadata and TikTok videos. This data set represented 18% of all TikToks featuring the hashtag #anxiety in December 2021. We examined the following research questions (RQs). RQ1: What are the creator identities reflected in the final data set in this study?; RQ2: What are the metadata characteristics of the TikToks in the final data set?; RQ3: What are the anxiety content themes in the final data set?; and RQ4: What are the characteristics of the data set based on an anxiety management reference checklist? RESULTS Influencers were the most frequent creator identity in our data set. Influencers comprised 85.5% of the 147 TikToks in our final data set. We coded 79 (54%) female and 45 male (31%) influencers. We found male influencers created the most played (mean 81 147 062), and most liked (mean 1 510 585) TikToks. We found content themes varied by influencer gender. Notable finding were: the greater use of humour by males (22.7% males; n=10, and females 12.7%; n=10); and inspiration (38.6%; males n=17; and 13.9%; females n=11). Among female influencers, we identified self-disclosure as the most common theme (n= 40 and 50.6% compared with n=11 and 25% male influencers). Overall, we found limited references to evidence-based anxiety self-care content in our final data set. DISCUSSION We suggest that the TikToks in our data set were primarily directed at raising awareness of and de-stigmatising anxiety symptoms. TikTok anxiety content may be viewed by adolescents for emotional self-regulation, beyond evidence-based health information seeking. Self-disclosure on TikTok may also provide symptomatic relief to adolescents with anxiety. We suggest that gender is a salient factor when considering TikTok content. CONCLUSIONS Our content findings are broadly consistent with previous research into adolescent use of social media. This research also provides methodological insights for researchers and clinicians seeking to understand TikTok, and to develop engaging content targeted at the specific concerns and preferences of adolescent TikTok consumers.

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TikTok and public health: a proposed research agenda

Cited by 62 publications

References 8 publications

Deconstructing TikTok Videos on Mental Health: Cross-sectional, Descriptive Content Analysis

Deconstructing TikTok Videos on Mental Health: Cross-sectional, Descriptive Content Analysis

Turning users into ‘unofficial brand ambassadors’: marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages on TikTok

Adolescent Anxiety and TikTok. An exploratory study

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