Social Media in Public Health

Social Media in Public Health summarizes the findings of a systematic review of research into the potential for using social media to promote and track public health events, and spread public health messages. The “briefing note,” compiled by the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy, looks at evidence about the effectiveness of social media in relaying public health messages and changing people’s behaviours, and whether its effectiveness is the same for all population groups.

It is unclear how the public reacts to social media messages and how or if social media messages affect behaviour. Even though public health units use social media to share evidence, the public does not yet view social media as a source of reliable health information. The fact that multiple users can contribute to social media sites detracts from the reliability, and therefore the effectiveness, of social media messages.

The literature is mixed as to who uses social media, but it is known that remoteness and low incomes are barriers to use. Other barriers include geography, knowledge of computing, low education and literacy.

The document contains a list of the most common social media platforms and how each can be used to disseminate public health messages. Best practice guidelines are outlined, including the organizational practices of having “clearly identified objectives, resources, target audiences, and key messages before starting any campaign,” and using social media to complement other dissemination approaches.

Use this resource to

Understand the range of ways social media can be used for public health messaging.
Facilitate a discussion on how to incorporate social media into your communication strategy.
Investigate how to reach different kinds of audiences with a public health message

Reference

Newbold, B. (2015). Social Media in Public Health. National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy.

Related Resources

Public Health Speaks: What is social media, and how can it support knowledge exchange on the social
Communicating the social determinants of health common messaging guidelines

Tags: Health literacy, Methods & tools, Partner with other sectors, Other National Collaborating Centre, Document, Report / Document