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Recruiting for health, medical or psychosocial research using Facebook: Systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Recruiting participants is a challenge for many health, medical and psychosocial research projects. One tool more frequently being used to improve recruitment is the social networking website Facebook. A systematic review was conducted to identify studies that have used Facebook to recruit participants of all ages, to any psychosocial, health or medical research. 110 unique studies that used Facebook as a recruitment source were included in the review. The majority of studies used a cross-sectional design (80%) and addressed a physical health or disease issue (57%). Half (49%) of the included studies reported specific details of the Facebook recruitment process. Researchers paid between $1.36 and $110 per completing participants (Mean = $17.48, SD = $23.06). Among studies that examined the representativeness of their sample, the majority concluded (86%) their Facebook-recruited samples were similarly representative of samples recruited via traditional methods. These results indicate that Facebook is an effective and cost-efficient recruitment method. Researchers should consider their target group, advertisement wording, offering incentives and no-cost methods of recruitment when considering Facebook as a recruitment source. It is hoped this review will assist researchers to make decisions regarding the use of Facebook as a recruitment tool in future research. • Health, medical and psychosocial research recruiting participants of all ages via Facebook is reviewed. • Results suggest Facebook is an effective and cost efficient recruitment method. • Results suggest Facebook can be used to obtain samples similarly representative to samples recruited via traditional methods.
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“Samples recruited by Facebook have been found to present similar representativeness to convention methods in achieving age and gender distribution and are usually less costly [53].”
From A mobile health intervention (LifeBuoy App) to help young people manage suicidal thoughts: protocol for a mixed-methods randomized controlled trial (2020) · cites this paper as [53]
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“participants who are disengaged from social media, Facebook advertising is an effective and cost-effective way to recruit participants compared with traditional methods [48,49].”
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“However, Facebook users represent a substantial majority of the Australian public and previous studies have indicated that the use of Facebook advertising generates samples that are similarly representative to other traditional mediums (Thornton et al., 2016).”
BackgroundSelf-citationHeld, M. L., Villarreal‐Otálora, T., McPherson, J., & Jennings-McGarity, P. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.877328 · Cited by 17
Predictors of Psychological Distress in Women with Endometriosis during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Schwab, R. M., Stewen, K., Ost, L., Kottmann, T., Theis, S., Elger, T., Schmidt, M. W., Anić, K., Kalb, S. R., Brenner, W., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19084927 · Cited by 15
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Burgess, J., Kimble, R. M., Watt, K., & Cameron, C. M. (2017) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.8189 · Cited by 17
“While the participants for this study were well represented on Facebook, Instagram, and many other social media platforms, it is important to note there are populations that are not so well represented on social media, such as older, economically disadvantaged, rural/remote, and less educated individuals [2].”
BackgroundInfluentialTsai, W., Zavala, D., & Gomez, S. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/11571 · Cited by 15
“Following the recommendations by Thornton et al [11], the ads were concise, showed the affiliation of the research study with a university, and offered incentives for participation (Figure 1).”
InfluentialTully, L., Spyreli, E., Allen‐Walker, V., Matvienko‐Sikar, K., McHugh, S., Woodside, J. V., McKinley, M. C., Kearney, P. M., Dean, M., Hayes, C. B., et al. (2021) · BMC Research Notes · doi:10.1186/s13104-021-05653-1 · Cited by 15
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Macapagal, K. R., Li, D. H., Clifford, A., Madkins, K., & Mustanski, B. S. (2020) · Current HIV/AIDS Reports · doi:10.1007/s11904-020-00491-5 · Cited by 15
“Moreover, although online recruitment can be efficient, it does not necessarily guarantee recruitment success, sample representativeness, or generalizability [20 (cid:129)(cid:129) , 44, 59, 60], so researchers should take steps to mitigate bias in ways that fit their scopes.”
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Kearns, C., Kearns, N., Braithwaite, I. E., Shortt, N., Eathorne, A., Semprini, A. C., & Beasley, R. W. (2020) · Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine · doi:10.1080/17453054.2020.1823206 · Cited by 15
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“Although online sampling offers some advantages in terms of cost-efficiency and effectiveness, as it allows recruiting larger sample sizes in short periods, it has some tradeoffs (Thornton et al., 2016; Topolovec-Vranic & Natarajan, 2016).”
BackgroundMethodDepressive symptoms and experiences of birthing mothers during COVID-19 pandemic
Eberhard‐Gran, M., Engelsen, L. Y., Al‐Zirqi, I., & Vangen, S. (2022) · Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening · doi:10.4045/tidsskr.21.0450 · Cited by 14
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“Published reviews comparing the characteristics of participants recruited via social media and other sources found no consistent trend in the effect of recruitment source on age, with social media variously associated with younger, older, or same aged samples [31,32].”
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“Moreover, like other studies recruiting participants via Facebook [26,27], the participants in this study tended to be young, and only 12.9% and 19.6% of the participants were 40 or older in the Wave 1 and Wave 2 surveys, respectively.”
BackgroundInfluentialGiles, F. C., McKenzie, M., Kyei-Nimakoh, M., Satyen, L., Tarzia, L., & Hegarty, K. L. (2025) · Methodological Innovations · doi:10.1177/20597991251333345 · Cited by 13
“…are benefits of using online methods to recruit participants as it enables researchers to reach a wide audience cost-effectively, target specific cohorts according to the study topic, and recruit participants traditionally underrepresented in research (Bennetts et al., 2019; Thornton et al., 2016).”
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“Increasingly, digital communication channels such as text message or social media are used to engage individuals in health research [8-11].”
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Use of social media in recruiting young people to mental health research: a scoping review
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An online cross‐sectional survey of the health risk behaviours among informal caregivers
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“Our findings add to the growing evidence of the cost benefits of using Facebook to recruit research participants [12,15].”
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Harden, B. J., McKelvey, L. M., Poehlmann, J., Edwards, R. C., Anunziata, F., Beasley, L. O., Bomberger, M., Chinaka, O., Cruz, S. D. L., Gurka, K. K., et al. (2024) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101421 · Cited by 11
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Exposing the Risks of Social Media Recruitment in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: #Beware
Bell, C. J., Spruit, J. L., & Kavanaugh, K. L. (2020) · Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology · doi:10.1089/jayao.2020.0018 · Cited by 11
“24,25 The challenges encountered in our experience provide important opportunities to reconsider social media recruitment pitfalls.”
A Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Literacy Study Among Australian Adults
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“However, there is evidence that participant recruitment through online social media or the use of online research panels does not lead to 25 Journal of Happiness and Health substantively different outcomes (Batterham, 2014; Thornton et al., 2016).”
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Experiences of Birth during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy and Spain: A Thematic Analysis
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“In fact, the literature shows that Facebook-recruited samples are similarly representative to those recruited traditionally [41].”
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Ichimiya, M., Muller-Tabanera, H., Cantrell, J., Bingenheimer, J. B., Gerard, R., Hair, E. C., Donati, D., Rao, N., & Evans, W. D. (2023) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076231178430 · Cited by 10
“A systematic review of 110 unique studies conducted on Facebook found that incentives offered included a small guaranteed gift or reimbursement for participation, a chance to win a prize via lottery, or a combination of a small guaranteed reimbursement plus a chance to win a prize via lottery.(5) However, none of thes…”
BackgroundAccess and Utilization of Health Care by Adults with Spina Bifida
Lai, L. Y., Lopez, A. D., Copp, H. L., Baradaran, N., Breyer, B. N., Allen, I. E., & Hampson, L. A. (2023) · Urology · doi:10.1016/j.urology.2023.08.026 · Cited by 10
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“Still, more traditional recruitment methods have similar challenges and recruiting participants through social media has been found to be a useful and valid method [41].”
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“A link to the survey with an invitation to participate was also posted on Facebook [27].”
BackgroundFacebook for recruiting Spanish- and English-speaking smokers
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“Evidence suggests that these methods of recruitment result in similar samples and are as costeffective as more traditional face-to-face recruitment methods (Thornton et al., 2016).”
InfluentialSchwab, R. M., Stewen, K., Kottmann, T., Theis, S., Elger, T., Hamoud, B. H., Schmidt, M. W., Anić, K., Brenner, W., & Hasenburg, A. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19148277 · Cited by 9
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Rodrigo, A., Trigueros, P., Jamilis, L., Alegret, M., Rodríguez, O., Tárraga, L., González‐Pérez, A., Kramberger, M. G., Winblad, B. G., Visser, P. J., et al. (2021) · Alzheimer s & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.12297 · Cited by 9
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“A recent systematic review of 110 studies found that Facebook was a highly effective method for research recruitment (21).”
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“In recent years, online surveys have undergone rapid development in a wide variety of fields, including public opinion research (Couper 2000) and life sciences (Thornton et al. 2016; Borodovsky et al. 2018).”
BackgroundCohort profile: the British Columbia COVID-19 Population Mixing Patterns Survey (BC-Mix)
Adu, P., Binka, M., Mahmood, B., Jeong, D., Buller-Taylor, T., Makuza, J. D., Iyaniwura, S. A., Ringa, N., García, H. A. V., Wong, S., et al. (2022) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056615 · Cited by 10
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“Several studies and systematic reviews have confirmed that advertising on Facebook is more cost-effective and time-efficient than in-person recruitment [7,8,14,15,26,27].”
BackgroundIndividual cognitive style affects flood‐risk perception and mitigation intentions
Spaccatini, F., Pancani, L., Richetin, J., Riva, P., & Sacchi, S. (2020) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/jasp.12726 · Cited by 8
Examining untreated and treated alcohol problem resolution in an Australian online survey sample
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Self-citationExamining Teacher Well-Being: An Analysis of Resources Needs
Costa, C. N., Chandarlis, E., & Park, N. (2024) · International Journal of Changes in Education · doi:10.47852/bonviewijce42022564 · Cited by 10
Westrupp, E. M., Bates, M. T., Bufton, K., Berkowitz, T. B., Popple, M., King, G., Jones, S., Stone, J., Kupper, J. F., Toumbourou, J. W., et al. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-03018-y · Cited by 8
“In line with research findings, this study will employ advertisements that [1] refer to research; include the Deakin University affiliation; refer to the compensation (as below); and are written in engaging and plain language [108].”
Walsh, L. E., & Carter‐Harris, L. (2022) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/13591053221136928 · Cited by 7
“Little research utilizing targeted advertising on Facebook targets the older adult populations, representing a potential missed opportunities for researchers focused on adults and older adults (Thornton et al., 2016).”
BackgroundInfluentialBatterham, P. J., Gendi, M., Christensen, H. M., Calear, A. L., Shand, F., Sunderland, M., Borschmann, R., Banfield, M., O’Dea, B., Larsen, M. E., et al. (2023) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-023-05335-1 · Cited by 9
“These recruitment methods will result in samples that are diverse in age and reach marginalised populations (e.g., ethnic minorities and people living with mental illness) that are less likely to respond to traditional population recruitment methods [14, 46–48].”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citationAdu, P., Binka, M., Mahmood, B., Jeong, D., Buller-Tylor, T., Makuza, J. D., Iyaniwura, S. A., Ringa, N., Velásquez, H. A. G., Wong, S., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.12.073 · Cited by 7
Haig‐Ferguson, A., Wallace, V., & Davis, C. (2022) · Journal of Clinical Nursing · doi:10.1111/jocn.16333 · Cited by 7
Nakamura, K., Batterham, P. J., & Reynolds, J. (2022) · Journal of Affective Disorders Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2022.100425 · Cited by 9
Self-citationSchwab, R. M., Stewen, K., Kottmann, T., Schmidt, M. W., Anić, K., Theis, S., Hamoud, B. H., Elger, T., Brenner, W., & Hasenburg, A. (2022) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm11195520 · Cited by 7
“Nevertheless, according to a recent systematic review, Facebook-recruited samples are similarly representative to study samples recruited via traditional methods [41].”
BackgroundWho’s Going to Keep Us Safe? Surviving Domestic Violence and Shared Parenting During Covid-19
Archer‐Kuhn, B., Hughes, J., Saini, M., Still, M., Beltrano, N. R., & Tam, D. M. Y. (2022) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-022-02458-z · Cited by 7
“Given that it is now common for research studies to use paid Facebook advertisements to recruit participants (Thornton et al., 2016) and we were unable to consider face-to-face recruitment, a paid Facebook strategy was utilized for recruitment of survey participants (masked for review).”
BackgroundMarkova, V., Sandal, G. M., & Guribye, E. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01599 · Cited by 8
Resilience and associated characteristics in adults with spina bifida
Showen, A., Copp, H. L., Allen, I. E., & Hampson, L. A. (2021) · Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology · doi:10.1111/dmcn.14919 · Cited by 7
“However, this practice has gained popularity amongst researchers because of the platform’s widespread use and ability to target advertising to user characteristics, and has been utilized successfully previously, with 86% of studies reporting that samples recruited through Facebook were representative to samples recrui…”
BackgroundSchwab, R. M., Droste, A., Stewen, K., Elger, T., Theis, S., Heimes, A.-S., Peters, K., Schmidt, M., Brenner, W., & Hasenburg, A. (2022) · International Journal of General Medicine · doi:10.2147/ijgm.s373191 · Cited by 6
“Nevertheless, a recent systematic review displayed that samples recruited through Facebook were as representative as those recruited via traditional methods.(77) Second, since the patients responded to the questionnaire directly, social desirability bias was greatly limited.”
BackgroundKuswara, K., Vidgen, H. A., Love, P., Laws, R., & Campbell, K. J. (2023) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s1368980023001817 · Cited by 6
“Evidence suggests that Facebook TM was the most feasible method to recruit ‘ hard to reach ’ populations and tended to result in a similarly representative sample as traditional recruitment methods (52) .”
MethodLamot, M., Kirbiš, A., & Vrdelja, M. (2024) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines12080839 · Cited by 6
Haas, C. T., Klein, L., Heckl, M., Kesić, M., Rueß, A.-K., Gensichen, J., Lukaschek, K., Kruse, T., & POKAL-Group (2025) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/65920 · Cited by 7
“The time and costs involved are generally significantly lower than those associated with traditional recruitment methods [18,24-26].”
Development and Validation of Static and Adaptive Screeners to Assess Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior
Calear, A. L., Batterham, P. J., Sunderland, M., & Carragher, N. (2019) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/sltb.12577 · Cited by 6
Self-citation“If I Am Straight You Are Askew”: Labelling Heterosexuals as Straight Worsen Gay Men’s Perception
Sacchi, S., Brambilla, M., Spaccatini, F., Giovannelli, I., Pacilli, M. G., & Pagliaro, S. (2020) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2020.1825605 · Cited by 5
“In fact, as noted by Thornton et al. (2016), the features of samples recruited by social networks are often unbalanced and the survey administration uncontrolled.”
BackgroundHeckman, C. J., Riley, M. C., Khavjou, O., Ohman‐Strickland, P., Manne, S. L., Yaroch, A. L., Bhurosy, T., Coups, E. J., & Glanz, K. (2021) · Translational Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1093/tbm/ibab047 · Cited by 6
Ingram, C., Chen, Y., Buggy, C., Downey, V., Archibald, M., Rachwal, N., Roe, M., Drummond, A., & Perrotta, C. (2022) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-022-12500-w · Cited by 6
“Posting in occupational Facebook groups was slightly more successful, however researchers were required to post from personal profiles creating a level of individual exposure not identified by other studies that used Facebook groups to recruit for health research [51, 52].”
BackgroundSafety Occurrence Reporting amongst New Zealand Uncrewed Aircraft Users
Walton, C. N., & Henderson, I. L. (2023) · Eng—Advances in Engineering · doi:10.3390/eng4010014 · Cited by 6
Adaption and validation of the childbirth experience questionnaire (CEQ-SK) in Slovakia
Henriksen, L., Debrecéniová, J., Hrabovská, A., Pufflerová, Š., & Blix, E. (2023) · European Journal of Midwifery · doi:10.18332/ejm/160973 · Cited by 3
Oldham, M., Dinu, L. M., Loebenberg, G., Field, M., Hickman, M., Michie, S., Brown, J., & Garnett, C. V. (2023) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/51839 · Cited by 6
“First, it may be harder to recruit participants or to recruit a broadly representative sample [10,11], as some groups, such as older adults and people from less advantaged communities, may be less likely to engage with research conducted remotely [12].”
BackgroundMartín-Fernández, M., Marco, M., Romo, M., & Moyano, M. (2019) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-019-00190-4 · Cited by 7
Engaging Young People Who Hear Voices in Online Mixed-Methods Research
Parry, S. L., Djabaeva, R., & Varese, F. (2018) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781526457783 · Cited by 6
Westrupp, E. M., Karantzas, G. C., Macdonald, J. A., OLIVE, L. S., Youssef, G. J., Greenwood, C. J., Sciberras, E., Fuller‐Tyszkiewicz, M., Mikocka‐Walus, A. A., Ling, M., et al. (2020) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/hqke9 · Cited by 9
Assessing self-selection biases in online surveys: evidence from the COVID-19 Health Behavior Survey
Donzowa, J., Perrotta, D., & Zagheni, E. (2023) · doi:10.4054/mpidr-wp-2023-047 · Cited by 6
Menchetti, L., Riggio, G., Calipari, S., Mariti, C., Menor-Campos, D. J., & Diverio, S. (2024) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani14233465 · Cited by 5
Mewton, L. R., Hodge, A., Gates, N. J., Visontay, R., & Teesson, M. (2017) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017721 · Cited by 7
Garrido‐Hernansaiz, H. (2022) · Health & Social Care in the Community · doi:10.1111/hsc.13799 · Cited by 5
“…Whitaker et al., 2017), this finding is in line with other research studies that found either equally representative samples (Sanchez et al., 2020; Thornton et al., 2016) or more representative samples in online recruitment, especially in the case of hard- to- reach populations (Hulbert- Williams…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialGurung, S., Jones, S. S., Mehta, K., Henna Budhwani, P., MacDonell, K. K., Belzer, M. E., & Naar, S. (2023) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/40077 · Cited by 5
Lee, H., Hsieh, Y. P., Murphy, J., Tidey, J. W., & Savitz, D. A. (2019) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/12444 · Cited by 5
“A systematic review of this topic suggests that Facebook-recruited samples were generally representative of samples recruited through traditional methods, except that the socioeconomic status was higher among Facebook users [20].”
Online survey design and social media
Dodemaide, P., Joubert, L., Hill, N., & Merolli, M. (2020) · Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference (ACSW) · doi:10.1145/3373017.3373054 · Cited by 5
Metadata
- Authors
- Thornton, L., Batterham, P. J., Fassnacht, D. B., Kay-Lambkin, F., Calear, A. L., & Hunt, S.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Venue
- Internet Interventions
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-05
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 72-81
- ISSN
- 2214-7829 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6096238
- OpenAlex
- W2282737262
- Cited by
- 326
- References
- 115
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 4.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Internet Interventions (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NOVA (University of Newcastle Australia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of New South Wales
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics in Clinical Research
- Keywords
- Facebook, participant recruitment, social networking sites, online recruitment, recruitment incentives, sample representativeness, health research, medical research, psychosocial research
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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