Why do people use social media for health?

These days, everyone uses some form of social media whether it is Twitter, Facebook or Youtube. People have begun using social media in relation to health for many reasons:• It’s fast• You can talk to many people at one time• It’s free• It’s easy• They may be too embarrassed to ask a question of someone

they know• You can get different opinions on various topics

How do people use social media for health?

Social media has become an integral part of how people seek information regarding health. Some of the ways people use social media in relation to health include:• Checking symptoms online• Finding support groups• Asking for opinions of doctors, diets etc• Look up things such as drug recalls• Looking up diets and exercise

Checking symptoms online

The Internet and social media have made looking up symptoms very easy. There are a variety of ways to do it:• Post a status on Facebook• Ask your followers on Twitter• Use a site such as http://www.webmd.com/• Use photos on Google or videos on Youtube to

compare your symptoms to others

Positives and Negatives to checking symptoms online

Positives include:• Some people may be too embarrassed to go to a doctor• It’s fast and free• You can get multiple opinionsNegatives include:• You may not be reading accurate information• Symptoms alone may not be enough to diagnose the problem• People can misdiagnose themselves

Finding support groups

• One of the best things about social media is that you have access to a large group of people at any given time

• There are always people available to talk to and it is easy to find things such as support groups where people can go to talk to others who are suffering from the same problems

• Support groups for anything from cancer to mental health to the loss of a loved one can be found using social media

Finding support groups cont.

These groups allow people to:• Gain experience• Ask questions• Talk to people who can relate to what others

are going through. • Examples of social media support groups

include http://www.mdjunction.com/support-groups and http://www.supportgroups.com/

Asking for opinions

Social media makes finding information and what is best for you a lot easier by allowing you to talk to people (including nurses and physicians) regarding:• Diets• Medications• Questions• Diseases/disorders• Weight loss programs• Doctors, nurses, hospitals

Health Canada

• A great, reliable online source for health related issues is http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/home-accueil/sm-ms/index-eng.php

• They provide access to things like:i. Healthy Canadians Pinterest accountii. http://www.nationalantidrugstrategy.gc.ca/pr

evention/youth-jeunes/iii. A mobile app you can download to your

phone with information

Diets/exercise

• Social media can also be used to research the latest diets and exercise.

• Youtube is often used to look up recipes because you can follow along with the video as you make the meal

• Youtube is also perfect for looking up exercise because you can find videos on how to do certain exercises as well as full workout videos

Diets/exercise cont.

• Another way people use social media for diet/exercise is through mobile apps such as MyFitnessPal.

• This is a site where people submit what they eat through the day/ the exercise they do and it helps them lose weight

• They are able to add other users as friends to motivate them, discuss their weight loss and work together towards their goals.

Future of healthcare using social media

• From 2005-2009, participation in social media more than quadrupled (Jones, S. 2009)

• At that rate, things can change quickly even over the span of a few months

How are health care professionals using social media?

Patients are not the only ones using social media for their gain. Doctors and even whole hospitals are using it to their advantage as well. Examples include:• The Henry Ford Healthcare System in Detroit has

physicians using Twitter to interact with more than 1,900 people (The Change Foundation, 2011).

• Hospitals and clinics use it for marketing• Education• Communicating with other doctors• Hiring future employees

Interesting facts on social media and healthcare

• More than 40% of consumers say that information found via social media affects the way they deal with their health. (Mediabistro, n.d)

• 90% of respondents from 18 to 24 years of age said they would trust medical information shared by others on their social media networks. (Search Engine Watch, 2012)

• 41% of people said social media would affect their choice of a specific doctor, hospital, or medical facility (Demi & Cooper Advertising and DC Interactive Group, 2012)

Interesting facts on social media and healthcare cont.

• The most accessed online resources for health related information are: 56% searched WebMD, 31% on Wikipedia, 29% on health magazine websites, 17% used Facebook, 15% used YouTube, 13% used a blog or multiple blogs, 12% used patient communities, 6% used Twitter and 27% used none of the above. (Mashable, n.d)

• 60% of doctors say social media improves the quality of care delivered to patients. (Demi & Cooper Advertising and DC Interactive Group, 2012)

Conclusion

• As you can see, social media is now used in relation to health in a variety of ways for a multitude of reasons

• Social media is changing all the time so who knows how it will affect our healthcare in 5-10 years.