Public health organizations are actively seeking social media and related technologies to disseminate health related information (Isaacs, 2014). Social media can be highly influential and can affect people’s behavior (Isaacs, 2014). Some of the benefits of using social media for health communication are: (i)it enhances the person’s access to health information, (ii) can be used to create awareness or (iii) to conduct mass campaigns on public health issues. (Cooke-Jackson, 2013)
The risk of disseminating health information through social media are as follows: (i) People using social media are exposed to a number of health information on diverse topics and not all this information are reliable. (ii.) The other risk is that it is difficult to evaluate the participation of viewers in social media. (iii.) Social media lack focus and thus it is very difficult to evaluate individual behavior. There are still a number of people from disadvantaged communities who lack access to technologies. These are some of the risk associated with the use of social media. (Cooke-Jackson, 2013)
Social media can improve health communication by providing an outlet for consumers of health information. It also provides a platform where consumers can respond and contribute to knowledge improvement. There is also provision for sharing information in social media and this helps to disseminate information that people find relevant to the community. Certain factors like the user’s desire to reveal the information and their relationship with other people in the network, can inhibit the dissemination of information in social media. The expenditure incurred by the organization to hire man power, establish and maintain a social media presence, could be another inhibitory factor in the use of this technology for healthcare communication. (Cooke-Jackson, 2013)
Reference
Cooke-Jackson, A. (2013). Harnessing Collective Social Media Engagement in a Health Communication Course. Communication Teacher, 27(3), 165-171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2013.782415
Isaacs, D. (2014). Social media and communication. Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, 50(6), 421-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpc.12555
