ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2014
What are health-related users tweeting? A qualitative content analysis of health-related users and their messages on twitter.
Article 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 53 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The role of social media on COVID-19 preventive behaviors worldwide, systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Accuracy of Nutrition-Related Awareness Messages on Twitter (Rebranded as X) by the Nutrition Awareness Providers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Validity Content Analysis.Online journal of public health informatics · 2025Article
- Wellness Influencer Responses to COVID-19 Vaccines on Social Media: A Longitudinal Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Observational
- Reporting of Ethical Considerations in Qualitative Research Utilizing Social Media Data on Public Health Care: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Exploring Discussions About Virtual Reality on Twitter to Inform Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Content and Network Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Privacy Concerns About Sharing General and Specific Health Information on Twitter: Quantitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Public perception of psychiatry, psychology and mental health professionals: a 15-year analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Use of Social Media for Health Advocacy for Digital Communities: Descriptive Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Perspectives and Experiences of Patients With Thyroid Cancer at a Global Level: Retrospective Descriptive Study of Twitter Data.JMIR cancer · 2023Article
- A Scoping Review of Physician Advocacy on Twitter.Cureus · 2023Article
- Methods for Analyzing the Contents of Social Media for Health Care: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Using Twitter Data Analysis to Understand the Perceptions, Beliefs, and Attitudes about Pharmacotherapy Used in Rheumatology: An Observational Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Tweets That Matter: Exploring the Solutions to Maternal Mortality in the United States Discussed by Advocacy Organizations on Twitter.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Health education and promotion of #PhysicalActivity on Twitter before and during COVID-19.Health education journal · 2023Article
- Antidepressants: A content analysis of healthcare providers' tweets.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2023Article
- Topics and Sentiment Surrounding Vaping on Twitter and Reddit During the 2019 e-Cigarette and Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury Outbreak: Comparative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Social media discussions about long-term care and the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of aging studies · 2022Article
- Exploring Relationships Between Tweet Numbers and Over-the-counter Drug Sales for Allergic Rhinitis: Retrospective Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Areas of Interest and Social Consideration of Antidepressants on English Tweets: A Natural Language Processing Classification Study.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Twitter, Telepractice, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Social Media Content Analysis.American journal of speech-language pathology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTwitter is home to many health professionals who send messages about a variety of health-related topics. Amid concerns about physicians posting inappropriate content online, more in-depth knowledge about these messages is needed to understand health professionals' behavior on Twitter.
objectiveOur goal was to characterize the content of Twitter messages, specifically focusing on health professionals and their tweets relating to health.
methodsWe performed an in-depth content analysis of 700 tweets. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on tweets by health users on Twitter. The primary objective was to describe the general type of content (ie, health-related versus non-health related) on Twitter authored by health professionals and further to describe health-related tweets on the basis of the type of statement made. Specific attention was given to whether a tweet was personal (as opposed to professional) or made a claim that users would expect to be supported by some level of medical evidence (ie, a "testable" claim). A secondary objective was to compare content types among different users, including patients, physicians, nurses, health care organizations, and others.
resultsHealth-related users are posting a wide range of content on Twitter. Among health-related tweets, 53.2% (184/346) contained a testable claim. Of health-related tweets by providers, 17.6% (61/346) were personal in nature; 61% (59/96) made testable statements. While organizations and businesses use Twitter to promote their services and products, patient advocates are using this tool to share their personal experiences with health.
conclusionsTwitter users in health-related fields tweet about both testable claims and personal experiences. Future work should assess the relationship between testable tweets and the actual level of evidence supporting them, including how Twitter users-especially patients-interpret the content of tweets posted by health providers.
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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.