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Cited by 126Social Media in Health EducationHealth Literacy and Information AccessibilityAcademic Publishing and Open Access

Multifaceted Role of Social Media in Healthcare: Opportunities, Challenges, and the Need for Quality Control

Open access
Jeyaraman, Madhan, Ramasubramanian, Swaminathan, Kumar, Shanmugapriya, Jeyaraman, Naveen, Selvaraj, Preethi, Nallakumarasamy, Arulkumar, Bondili, Suresh K, Yadav, Sankalp·2023·Cureus
DOI 10.7759/cureus.39111PMC PMC10272627
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Abstract

Social media, leveraging Web 2.0 technologies, plays a vital role in healthcare, medical education, and research by fostering collaboration and enabling research dissemination. Healthcare professionals use these platforms to improve public health literacy, but concerns about misinformation and content accuracy persist. In 2023, platforms like Facebook (Meta Platforms, Inc., Menlo Park, California, United States), YouTube (Google LLC, Mountain View, California, United States), Instagram (Meta Platforms, Inc.), TikTok (ByteDance Ltd, Beijing, China), and Twitter (X Corp., Carson City, Nevada, United States) have become essential in healthcare, offering patient communication, professional development, and knowledge-sharing opportunities. However, challenges such as breaches of patient confidentiality and unprofessional conduct remain. Social media has transformed medical education, providing unique networking and professional development opportunities. Further studies are needed to determine its educational value. Healthcare professionals must follow ethical and professional guidelines, particularly regarding patient privacy, confidentiality, disclosure rules, and copyright laws. Social media significantly impacts patient education and healthcare research. Platforms like WhatsApp (Meta Platforms, Inc.) effectively improve patient compliance and outcomes. Yet, the rapid dissemination of false news and misinformation on social media platforms presents risks. Researchers must consider potential biases and content quality when extracting data. Quality control and regulation are crucial in addressing potential dangers and misinformation in social media and healthcare. Stricter regulations and monitoring are needed due to cases of deaths resulting from social media trends and false news spread. Ethical frameworks, informed consent practices, risk assessments, and appropriate data management strategies are essential for responsible research using social media technologies. Healthcare professionals and researchers must judiciously use social media, considering its risks to maximize benefits and mitigate potential drawbacks. By striking the right balance, healthcare professionals can enhance patient outcomes, medical education, research, and the overall healthcare experience.

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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.”

    From Evaluating perceptions of social media professionalism by healthcare workers (2026) · cites this paper as [6]

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References 45 · Cited by 126

Research works printed but not linked: 35

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Authors
Jeyaraman, M., Ramasubramanian, S., Kumar, S., Jeyaraman, N., Selvaraj, P., Nallakumarasamy, A., Bondili, S. K., & Yadav, S.
Affiliations
  • Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute (IN)
  • Government Medical College Omandurar (IN)
  • Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute (IN)
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhubaneswar (IN)
Corresponding author
Yadav, Sankalp
ORCID
Venue
Cureus
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2023-05-16
Volume
15
Issue
5
Pages
e39111-e39111
ISSN
2168-8184 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.7759/cureus.39111
PMC
PMC10272627
OpenAlex
W4376875739
Cited by
126
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 6
FWCI
6.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Cureus (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Academic Publishing and Open Access
Keywords
social media in healthcare, Web 2.0, medical education, health misinformation, patient confidentiality, professional conduct, patient education, WhatsApp, research ethics, quality control, social media regulation, public health literacy

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