The Impact and Applications of Social Media Platforms for Public Health Responses Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Literature Review.
J Med Internet Res
; 24(4): e33680, 2022 04 11.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1785272
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Social media platforms have numerous potential benefits and drawbacks on public health, which have been described in the literature. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed our limited knowledge regarding the potential health impact of these platforms, which have been detrimental to public health responses in many regions.OBJECTIVE:
This review aims to highlight a brief history of social media in health care and report its potential negative and positive public health impacts, which have been characterized in the literature.METHODS:
We searched electronic bibliographic databases including PubMed, including Medline and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore, from December 10, 2015, to December 10, 2020. We screened the title and abstracts and selected relevant reports for review of full text and reference lists. These were analyzed thematically and consolidated into applications of social media platforms for public health.RESULTS:
The positive and negative impact of social media platforms on public health are catalogued on the basis of recent research in this report. These findings are discussed in the context of improving future public health responses and incorporating other emerging digital technology domains such as artificial intelligence. However, there is a need for more research with pragmatic methodology that evaluates the impact of specific digital interventions to inform future health policy.CONCLUSIONS:
Recent research has highlighted the potential negative impact of social media platforms on population health, as well as potentially useful applications for public health communication, monitoring, and predictions. More research is needed to objectively investigate measures to mitigate against its negative impact while harnessing effective applications for the benefit of public health.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Social Media
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Med Internet Res
Journal subject:
Medical Informatics
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
33680
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