SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2014
The use of social networking sites for public health practice and research: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Engagement With and Acceptability of Digital Media Platforms for Use in Improving Health Behaviors Among Vulnerable Families: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic Review on Information Technology Approaches to Evaluate the Impact of Public Health Campaigns: Real Cases and Possible Directions.Frontiers in public health · 2021Pooled it
- Participatory Interventions for Sexual Health Promotion for Adolescents and Young Adults on the Internet: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Characteristics of Gun Advertisements on Social Media: Systematic Search and Content Analysis of Twitter and YouTube Posts.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Social media, body image and food choices in healthy young adults: A mixed methods systematic review.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions using social networking sites to promote contraception in women of reproductive age.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Use of Social Network Sites for Communication Among Health Professionals: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2018Pooled it
- Systematic review of social media interventions for smoking cessation.Addictive behaviors · 2017Pooled it
- Recommending Breast Cancer Screening to My Mum: Examining the Interplay of Threat, Efficacy, and Virality on Recommendation Intention in the Chinese Context.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Using Facebook™ to Recruit College-Age Men for a Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Trial.American journal of men's health · 2016Trial
- Evaluating Consumer m-Health Services for Promoting Healthy Eating: A Randomized Field Experiment.AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium · 2015Trial
- Effectiveness of a pilot partner notification program for new HIV cases in Barcelona, Spain.PloS one · 2015Trial
- Structured digital health intervention for leprosy awareness: a case study of analyzing public engagement and sentiment in a Sri Lankan leprosy awareness campaign on Facebook.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Leveraging Social Media for Population Health Promotion: Evaluation of a Year-Long Nonprofit Public Health Campaign.Cureus · 2026Article
- Who sends the message matters: social media messengers and adolescent eating.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Co-Designing a Framework for Social Media Health Communication to Young People: A Participatory Research Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Article
- Comparison of the Effect of Distance and Face-to-face Breastfeeding Education on Female Nursing Students' Knowledge: A Quasi-experimental Study.International journal of community based nursing and midwifery · 2025Article
- Article
- Experiences of abortion care in Australia: a qualitative study examining multiple dimensions of access.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSocial networking sites (SNSs) have the potential to increase the reach and efficiency of essential public health services, such as surveillance, research, and communication.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify the use of SNSs for public health research and practice and to identify existing knowledge gaps.
methodsWe performed a systematic literature review of articles related to public health and SNSs using PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL to search for peer-reviewed publications describing the use of SNSs for public health research and practice. We also conducted manual searches of relevant publications. Each publication was independently reviewed by 2 researchers for inclusion and extracted relevant study data.
resultsA total of 73 articles met our inclusion criteria. Most articles (n=50) were published in the final 2 years covered by our search. In all, 58 articles were in the domain of public health research and 15 were in public health practice. Only 1 study was conducted in a low-income country. Most articles (63/73, 86%) described observational studies involving users or usages of SNSs; only 5 studies involved randomized controlled trials. A large proportion (43/73, 59%) of the identified studies included populations considered hard to reach, such as young individuals, adolescents, and individuals at risk of sexually transmitted diseases or alcohol and substance abuse. Few articles (2/73, 3%) described using the multidirectional communication potential of SNSs to engage study populations.
conclusionsThe number of publications about public health uses for SNSs has been steadily increasing in the past 5 years. With few exceptions, the literature largely consists of observational studies describing users and usages of SNSs regarding topics of public health interest. More studies that fully exploit the communication tools embedded in SNSs and study their potential to produce significant effects in the overall population's health are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.