With the Internet advent, social media has become an integral part of communication among people. Different industries in the world including the healthcare industry rely on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for marketing, networking, and communication techniques (Bodnar & Salathé, 2015). There are several benefits and risks of using social media for public health communication.
Benefits
With regard to the benefits of relying on social media for public health communication, it is evident that this is a quick way of disseminating medical and health information (Murphy, 2013). Many healthcare patients globally are currently consuming bad medical information that is all over the internet. Such patients put their health at risk when they trust the information found online not knowing that it is not true. Healthcare organizations can take the opportunity to use social media to disseminate the correct and actionable medical information needed by people.
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Furthermore, social media is the most cost-effective way of promoting a message. Although marketers first embraced social media, it can go beyond the marketing departments of health organizations to provide cost-effective ways of monitoring and dispensing health care services (Bodnar & Salathé, 2015). Healthcare organizations can also use social media to communicate in times of crisis. It is hard to know when a disaster will hit, and therefore, healthcare providers can use social media networks like Facebook to provide real-time updates for people directly affected by crises in addition to those watching from a distance and are willing to offer their help.
Risks
A major risk of using social media for public health communication is a lack of quality of retrieved information. People who post medical information on social media sites are in most cases unknown and do not feature reliable personal information. The information given is neither peer-reviewed nor embedded in the foundation of scholarly works. Although medicinal perspectives cast away anecdotal sources, social media lean on emphasizing them, concentrating on patient stories to inform general medical knowledge (Murphy, 2013).
Another risk concerns the breach of patient privacy. Information shared on social media is in most cases public, and it is possible for healthcare organizations to overlook the aspect of confidentiality (Parvanta, 2011). There are negative consequences when patient privacy is breached, especially the exposure of healthcare professionals and entities to liability under federal HIPAA and state privacy laws.
There is also the risk of loss of message control, which gives credence and credibility to “junk silence” and concerns related to reputation. Such concerns should be factored into the control of an organization’s social media involvement strategy. Social media use for public health communication violates the HCP – patient boundary (Murphy, 2013). When HCPs get too familiar with their patients, there are high chances of compromise when it comes to providing quality healthcare for the patient. Social media use can encourage redistribution of poor quality content that can reflect negatively about healthcare practitioners. It is easy to learn about a person’s beliefs and main concerns through social media, in which case that first impression is lasting and detrimental.
World Lung Foundation (WFL)
The foundation of WLF’s objectives is built on running several public health behavioral change campaigns using social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. The main objective of the foundation is to inform the public on the risks of cigarette smoking. The foundation was established in response to the worldwide epidemic of lung disease, which kills approximately 10 million people per year. The World Lung Foundation improves universal lung health by improving local capacity to carry out research, develop public policy, and deliver public health education.
For instance, the World Lund Foundation released an application on Facebook that allows people to add decayed teeth, bleeding brains, throat tumors and other smoking-related disorders to their profile pictures or photos of friends. Social Media users place graphic images cigarettes packages and share them. The released application referred to as PackHead was essentially meant to raise awareness using graphic imagery on packages. The application is an effective way of communicating the negative implications of smoking as opposed to standard text messages.
PackHead utilizes images collected from around the globe that have been efficient in educating people about the many illnesses caused by smoking. Through the campaign, which is done on Facebook, users can see and send facts about various possible effects of smoking. The bottom line is that the World Lung Foundation uses social media to solicit for information from users on the dangers of cigarette smoking.
Furthermore, the World Lung Foundation worked in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry to launch a “Smoke-Free Alexandria” media campaign, stretching a small campaign budget using creative strategies to attract extra media interest. As a way of avoiding expensive Ramadan-priced mainstream media, the two organizations launched Egypt’s first Facebook ad campaign for public health.
While the foundation has worked well in running campaigns against tobacco through social media image posting, it is important to incorporate an exchange program among users. Through such a program founded solely on social media, users can share their success stories, and the challenges faced while trying to avoid smoking, hence the dangers (Parvanta, 2011). The organization, apart from looking for information, should identify opportunities to connect directly with users and to facilitate dialogue between users. Facebook and Twitter chats will work effectively for the World Lung Foundations, wherein scheduled social media events will allow direct, real-time conversation between social media followers, organization experts, and leaders (Bodnar & Salathé, 2015). The organization can ask users to comment on the Facebook material, which in turn will demonstrate a commitment to engage with social media users.
- Bodnar, T., & Salathé, M. (2015). Data Science with Social Media for Epidemiology and Public Health.
- Murphy, F. (2013). Community engagement, organization, and development of public health practice. New York, NY: Springer.
- Parvanta, C. F. (2011). Essentials of public health communication. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
