Tweet for Behavior Change: Using Social Media for the Dissemination of Public Health Messages (1703.08813v1)

Abstract: Background: Social media public health campaigns have the advantage of tailored messaging at low cost and large reach, but little is known about what would determine their feasibility as tools for inducing attitude and behavior change. Objective: The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of designing, implementing, and evaluating a social media-enabled intervention for skin cancer prevention. Conclusions: Social media-disseminated public health messages reached more than 23% of the Northern Ireland population. A Web-based survey suggested that the campaign might have contributed to improved knowledge and attitudes toward skin cancer among the target population. Findings suggested that shocking and humorous messages generated greatest impressions and engagement, but information-based messages were likely to be shared most. The extent of behavioral change as a result of the campaign remains to be explored, however, the change of attitudes and knowledge is promising. Social media is an inexpensive, effective method for delivering public health messages. However, existing and traditional process evaluation methods may not be suitable for social media.

• The paper presents a mixed-methods analysis on Twitter's use for skin cancer prevention, achieving over 417,000 tweet impressions.
• The study compares message frames, showing that shocking content generates the highest impressions while humorous content boosts engagement.
• The research highlights the value of influencers and tailored evaluation metrics to optimize public health campaigns on social media.

Analysis of the Efficacy of Social Media in Disseminating Public Health Messages for Skin Cancer Prevention

The research conducted by Gough et al. explores the potential of social media platforms, specifically Twitter, as an intervention tool for public health awareness campaigns. Through a quasi-experimental design, the paper evaluates the feasibility of leveraging Twitter for disseminating messages aimed at increasing skin cancer awareness and prevention behaviors. This analysis elucidates the methodological approach, key findings, and implications for future public health campaigns utilizing social media.

Methodological Approach

The paper implemented a mixed-methods approach over two phases, utilizing distinct Twitter platforms for each. The first phase exploited the existing social media presence of a regional cancer charity, while the second phase introduced a new Twitter account purpose-built for the campaign. Each phase deployed different "message frames" including humor, shock, informative, and personal stories to assess engagement variations. Additionally, influencers and promoted tweets were integrated to amplify message reach, and a Thunderclap was executed to further extend reach.

Data was collected via Twitter analytics, tracking the number of tweet impressions, engagements, and retweets. A Web-based pre- and post-survey evaluated the changes in knowledge and attitudes towards skin cancer among the Northern Ireland population.

Key Findings

The paper successfully garnered 417,678 tweet impressions and 11,213 post engagements from its efforts. It was observed that shocking message frames achieved the highest impressions, followed by informative content, whereas humorous messages elicited greater engagement from users. The highest levels of retweets were recorded for informative tweets, indicating a higher likelihood of sharing factual content.

In terms of knowledge and attitude shifts, the paper noted some improvement post-intervention. Awareness that skin cancer is the most common form of cancer increased from 28.4% to 39.3%, and the understanding that melanoma is the most serious type rose from 49.1% to 55.5%. Moreover, there was a slight reduction in the preference for tanning and increased recognition of sun protection as a preventive measure.

Implications and Future Directions

The implications of these findings suggest social media can be an effective medium for public health messaging given its reach and the ability to deploy targeted and dynamic content. However, the success of each message frame indicates an importance in selecting the right communicative style to maximize engagement and dissemination. Humorous or shocking messages can drive engagement, whereas informative content tends to be shared more widely.

A crucial observation from this paper is the potential inefficacy of traditional process evaluation methods when applied to social media. Future campaigns should focus on developing novel evaluation metrics that reflect the unique attributes of social media interactions. Furthermore, employing predictive models for assessing information diffusion could optimize future campaigns.

Incorporating influencers effectively can notably extend message reach given their often large and engaged followings. The paper underlines the necessity of aligning influencer selection not just with reach, but with congruence to campaign messages to foster genuine engagement.

Conclusion

The paper demonstrates the feasibility of deploying social media as a platform for public health campaigns. While conclusions regarding behavioral change remain uncertain, the enhancement in public knowledge and attitudes observed indicates promise. Future research should venture into correlating online engagement metrics with offline health behaviors and consider ethical dimensions involved in using social media data for public health research. Adopting innovative approaches may further increase the efficacy of health promotion within digital landscapes.