SynthesisThe American journal of clinical nutrition2022
Use of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for recruiting healthy participants in nutrition-, physical activity-, or obesity-related studies: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reddit for research recruitment? Social media as a novel clinical trial recruitment tool for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Trial
- Comparing in-person and online recruitment methods in a prospective pediatric cohort study.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of an adapted community-based cardiovascular disease prevention program: a pilot study of the StrongPeople strong hearts intervention for women living in urban settings.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Digital and community-engaged approaches to improve research participant recruitment - Advice from forty convened experts.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Challenges and Opportunities in Recruiting a Very Large Sample of Pregnant Individuals: Secondary Analysis of an Online Nationwide Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
- Leveraging Influencers to Reach and Engage Vulnerable Individuals With a Digital Health Intervention: Quasi-Experimental Field Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- College Community-Based Physical Activity Support at a Public University During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Longitudinal Analysis of Intra- Versus Interpersonal Components for Uptake and Outcome Association.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Using Social Media to Engage and Enroll Underrepresented Populations: Longitudinal Digital Health Research.JMIR formative research · 2025Observational
- Assessment of Fraud Deterrence and Detection Procedures Used in a Web-Based Survey Study With Adult Black Cisgender Women: Description of Lessons Learned and Recommendations.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Recruitment of Adolescents to Virtual Clinical Trials: Recruitment Results From the Health4Me Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2024Article
- Effectiveness and costs of the recruitment strategies used in the MetA-Bone trial, a randomized clinical trial to test the effects of soluble corn fiber supplementation for 1 year in children.Contemporary clinical trials · 2024Article
- Using Social Media to Recruit Participants in Health Care Research: Case Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Problem of Fraudulent Participants in Health Care Research: Multimethod Pilot Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Differential effects of healthcare worker burnout on psychotropic medication use and misuse by occupational level.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Testing Behavioral Messages to Increase Recruitment to Health Research When Embedded Within Social Media Campaigns on Twitter: Web-Based Experimental Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Virtual dentistry strategy to enhance knowledge, attitudes, and practices in selecting sweetened ultra-processed foods.PloS one · 2024Article
- Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy is Self-Reported as a Minimally Effective, and Sometimes Harmful, Treatment for Pudendal Neuralgia: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2024Article
- Participant recruitment for paediatric research using social media: A practical 'how-to' guide for researchers.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2023Review
- Cost-effectiveness of social media advertising as a recruitment tool: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2023Article
- Health Promotion on Instagram: Descriptive-Correlational Study and Predictive Factors of Influencers' Content.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere are limited systematic reviews exploring the use of social media for recruiting participants specifically for nutrition-, physical activity-, and obesity-related studies.
objectivesThe aim was to conduct a systematic review on the effectiveness of using social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for recruiting healthy participants in nutrition-, physical activity-, or obesity-related studies.
methodsStudies were identified from 5 databases and included if they reported the number of participants recruited by social media (Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter) vs. traditional (print, e-mail, etc.). The effectiveness of recruitment was compared between methods by study procedures (in-person vs. online procedures). The cost-effectiveness of methods was also explored. The protocol was published in the Prospero database (ID# CRD42020204414).
resultsTwenty-six studies were included. Among studies with both types of recruitment methods, 49% of the sample was reached through traditional methods, 40% through social media, and the rest by other methods. For in-person study procedures, the median number of participants recruited using social media was 19 (range: 3-278) and for online study procedures, it was 298 (range: 3-17,069). Median recruitment cost using social media (n = 14 studies) was $11.90 (range: $0-517) per participant, while this varied considerably for traditional methods depending on how it was calculated ($214, $18.9-$777). The ratio of participants reached vs. recruited was 0.12%; the overall ratio of participants interactions vs. recruited was 21.2%.
conclusionsFor in-person study procedures, traditional recruitment methods were more effective than social media, but for online study procedures, about half reported that social media was more effective. While more potential participants were reached through social media, only 21.2% of those who interacted with ads were enrolled. With the increased use of social media, their use for recruitment may be more frequent; therefore, future reviews may show different results.
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.