Read: Social Media and its use in Health Promotion

Overview

The purpose of this lesson is to understand how social media can promote health.

Directions

  1. Read the text below
  2. Click next to answer the discussion post

Read

Social media holds considerable potential for health promotion and other health intervention activities, as it addresses some of the limitations in traditional health communication by increasing accessibility, interaction, engagement, empowerment and customization. The use of social media increases the potential for easy access to preventive medicine, interaction with health care providers, interprofessional communication in emergency management, and public health. However, more research is needed to determine its long term effectiveness and to maximize the strategic presence of health organizations on social networking websites.

Facebook, Twitter, Google, Bing, and Buzz are new terms but they are used every day by millions of people across the world. The impressive growth in social media has been fascinating to watch, but intriguing as well, when you consider the multitude of applications these tools have unleashed, and their potential to influence population health.

The evidence regarding the accessibility of social networking shows that it is ideal for reaching the general population. People can feel connected and experience a sense of support without the need for face to face interaction. The information is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Social media’s role in promoting positive health behaviors is also related to the origin of the information. Instead of receiving health promoting messages from experts, which might be inadvertently disempowering for some people, the messages come from within social networks, which include friends, family members, or co-workers.

In public health promotion, social media sites allow individuals to benefit from easy access to preventive medicine information. Another important application of social media is its ability to enable individuals and organizations to cooperate in all phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

Social media provides a unique opportunity for the public to engage in critical public health issues, such as the H1N1 pandemic, where sharing of information, collaboration and interactivity are encouraged (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2010). Emergency notification systems can utilize social media to distribute information because of the opportunities they hold: fast distribution, mass communication for large groups, low cost and ease of use, and international diversity.

Summary

By increasing interaction and engagement, social media may complement traditional health promotion by raising awareness, spreading influence, and contributing to health behavior change.