Analyzing the Impact of Social Media on Health Information Seeking

This report investigates the significant role of social media in disseminating health information and its impact on health-seeking behaviors. It analyzes various social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and WeChat, highlighting their usage in sharing health-related content and raising awareness. The study reveals that individuals often rely on social media for medication information without consulting healthcare professionals, underscoring the need for users to verify the authenticity of online health information. The report recommends increased cyber surveillance to prevent the spread of incorrect health information and emphasizes the importance of consulting physicians before making health-related decisions. It also suggests that healthcare professionals should contribute to editing social network pages to ensure accuracy and reliability of health information.

Social Media and Health Seeking
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
With the advancement of technology, social media has become a part of
lives and it is one of the major platforms of sharing information and
connecting people. Healthcare system is also using this platform to share
information and the use of social networking sites for multiple healthcare
purposes is randomly increasing. The trend of using internet for health
related purposes is highly rising and according to a household survey of
Health System Change (HSC) in the year 2010, 50% American adults
reported searching information about their own health concern in social
media. Even, patients also share their personal experiences with healthcare
personnel on social media in order to increase the awareness as well (Zhao
and Zhang 2017).
1.2 Purpose of the report
This paper is going to study the impact of spreading and sharing
information related to healthcare through social media and how various
platforms of social media are being used in this purpose.
2. Literature review
Impact of sharing health-related information through social media is highly
significant. Many authors in their literatures indicated how health-related data
found in the social media impacts the lives of people. A study by the researchers
established the fact that half of its participants either started or stopped taking any
specific medicine after receiving information about it through social media.
Again, in the cross-sectional survey, it has also been found that 89.8% participants

used WhatsApp and among them, 78.3% participants received health information
through this social media channel. Again, the study also produced the fact that
46.6% patients started taking medicines as per the advertisement on social media
without consulting their physicians (Iftikhar and Abaalkhail 2017). Survey also
provided result that 40% top pharmaceutical companies use social media
platforms for advertising purpose. A survey in China produced the fact that 93%
people use WeChat as social media platform and a variety of health-related
information is shared through it. But, 14.43% people believed that information is
reliable (Zhang et al. 2017). However, female participants in the studies were
more likely to consult physicians before taking medicines when compared to male
participants (Iftikhar and Abaalkhail 2017). Therefore these evidences clearly
indicated the impact of health-related information shared through social media on
the lives of people.
Different countries are using different platforms of social media to share
information where they get health-related information as well. A survey of
Australia identified how social media platforms are used in sharing health
information. People in Australia access a variety of social media platforms on a
regular basis. Facebook allowed consumers to access health information and
YouTube is accessed to learn various medical procedures. The study produced the
result that most of the participants used social media platforms to access health-
related information. Even, it appeared to be utilized as a key tool which supports
self management process in various diseases (Benetoli, Chen and Aslani 2017).
Studies also produced the fact that Facebook pages are used for commercial
purpose of sharing information and increasing awareness among the people
though, twitter is rarely used in this purpose. In China, health-awareness among

people is comparatively poor and in that case, use of social media can be one of
the biggest platforms to share awareness among them (Zhang et al. 2017).
Therefore a large number audience share health information through different
means of social media.
3. Conclusion
3.1 Summary
Social media is widely used by the people from all over the world and it is
not only used for entertainment but also for various serious purposes that
includes sharing health information and increasing health-related
awareness among the people who are using it. The paper also analysed
some literatures to reveal the usage of social media in sharing health
information across the world. It produced the result that sometimes, people
rely on social media for medication purpose without consulting to their
physicians.
3.2 Recommendation
Users of social media must check the relevance as well as the authenticity
of any information related to health found in Facebook, WhatsApp,
YouTube, WeChat or any other social media platforms. Moreover, cyber
surveillance should be a part of accountability of social media to prevent
sharing any inappropriate or incorrect health information. People should be
more aware and avoid using self-medication. They should consult their
physicians before starting medication or taking any health-related decision.
Healthcare professionals should also help in editing social network pages
to make it error-free.

References
Benetoli, A., Chen, T.F. and Aslani, P., 2017. Consumer health-related activities on social
media: exploratory study. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(10).
Iftikhar, R. and Abaalkhail, B., 2017. Health-seeking influence reflected by online health-
related messages received on social media: Cross-sectional survey. Journal of medical
Internet research, 19(11).
Zhang, X., Wen, D., Liang, J. and Lei, J., 2017. How the public uses social media WeChat to
obtain health information in china: a survey study. BMC medical informatics and decision
making, 17(2), p.66.
Zhao, Y. and Zhang, J., 2017. Consumer health information seeking in social media: a
literature review. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 34(4), pp.268-283.