Cited by 1,073Social Media in Health EducationHealth Literacy and Information AccessibilityMobile Health and mHealth Applications

Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review

Open access
Chen, Junhan, Wang, Yuan·2021·Journal of Medical Internet Research

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Abstract

Background: Social media has been widely used for health-related purposes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous reviews have summarized social media uses for a specific health purpose such as health interventions, health campaigns, medical education, and disease outbreak surveillance. The most recent comprehensive review of social media uses for health purposes, however, was conducted in 2013. A systematic review that covers various health purposes is needed to reveal the new usages and research gaps that emerge in recent years. Objective: This study aimed to provide a systematic review of social media uses for health purposes that have been identified in previous studies. Methods: The researchers searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2006 and 2020 in 12 databases covering medicine, public health, and social science. After coding the articles in terms of publication year, journal area, country, method, social media platform, and social media use for health purposes, the researchers provided a review of social media use for health purposes identified in these articles. Results: This study summarized 10 social media uses for various health purposes by health institutions, health researchers and practitioners, and the public. Conclusions: Social media can be used for various health purposes. Several new usages have emerged since 2013 including advancing health research and practice, social mobilization, and facilitating offline health-related services and events. Research gaps exist regarding advancing strategic use of social media based on audience segmentation, evaluating the impact of social media in health interventions, understanding the impact of health identity development, and addressing privacy concerns.

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  • Prior literature has highlighted both benefits and risks of social media in healthcare, but there remains limited understanding of how generational perspectives shape views of professionalism in healthcare social media use.

    “Prior literature has highlighted both benefits and risks of social media in healthcare,4–13 but there remains limited understanding of how generational perspectives shape views of professionalism in healthcare social media use.”

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Authors
Chen, J., & Wang, Y.
Affiliations
University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Corresponding author
Chen, Junhan
Venue
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Published
2021-05-12
Volume
23
Issue
5
Pages
e17917
ISSN
1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3155976349
Cited by
1,073
References
176
Citations by year
2026: 274 · 2025: 296 · 2024: 228 · 2023: 196 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 8 · 2018: 1
FWCI
13.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • The HKU Scholars Hub (University of Hong Kong) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
Keywords
social media, health communication, health interventions, health campaigns, medical education, outbreak surveillance, social mobilization, privacy concerns, audience segmentation, COVID-19 pandemic, health research
MeSH terms
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Health Promotion, Humans, Patient Education as Topic, Public Health, Social Media

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