{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]],"date-time":"2026-10-19T16:38:48Z","timestamp":1792427928708,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"JMIR Publications Inc.","issue":"6","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Internet Res"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In recent years, medical journals have emphasized the increasingly critical role that social media plays in the dissemination of public health information and disease prevention guidelines. However, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter continue to pose unique challenges for clinical health care providers and public health officials alike. In order to effectively communicate during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly critical for health care providers and public health officials to understand how patients gather health-related information on the internet and adjudicate the merits of such information.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>With that goal in mind, we conducted a survey of 1003 US-based adults to better understand how health consumers have used social media to learn and stay informed about the COVID-19 pandemic, the extent to which they have relied on credible scientific information sources, and how they have gone about fact-checking pandemic-related information.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A web-based survey was conducted with a sample that was purchased through an industry-leading market research provider. The results were reported with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 3. Participants included 1003 US-based adults (aged \u226518 years). Participants were selected via a stratified quota sampling approach to ensure that the sample was representative of the US population. Balanced quotas were determined (by region of the country) for gender, age, race, and ethnicity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The results showed a heavy reliance on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic; more than three-quarters of respondents (762\/1003, 76%) reported that they have relied on social media at least \u201ca little,\u201d and 59.2% (594\/1003) of respondents indicated that they read information about COVID-19 on social media at least once per week. According to the findings, most social media users (638\/1003, 63.6%) were unlikely to fact-check what they see on the internet with a health professional, despite the high levels of mistrust in the accuracy of COVID-19\u2013related information on social media. We also found a greater likelihood of undergoing vaccination among those following more credible scientific sources on social media during the pandemic (\u03c7216=50.790; \u03c6=0.258; P&lt;.001).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The findings suggest that health professionals will need to be both strategic and proactive when engaging with health consumers on social media if they hope to counteract the deleterious effects of misinformation and disinformation. Effective training, institutional support, and proactive collaboration can help health professionals adapt to the evolving patterns of health information seeking.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.2196\/29802","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,27]],"date-time":"2021-05-27T13:39:41Z","timestamp":1622122781000},"page":"e29802","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":268,"title":["Health Information Seeking Behaviors on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among American Social Networking Site Users: Survey Study"],"prefix":"10.2196","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9802-0859","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephen","family":"Neely","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9963-959X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christina","family":"Eldredge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0969-3013","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ron","family":"Sanders","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1010","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2019.21084"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMp1103591"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2015.05.027"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2018.16865"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/12460125.2016.1187396"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/1547-7355.1976"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2202\/1547-7355.1671"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0095399712469198"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7759\/cureus.7255"},{"key":"ref10","unstructured":"Managing the COVID-19 infodemic: Promoting healthy behaviours and mitigating the harm from misinformation and disinformationWorld Health Organization202009232021-04-01https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/k4zrca9e"},{"key":"ref11","unstructured":"ShearerEMatsaKENews use across social media platforms 2018Pew Research Center201809102021-03-25https:\/\/www.journalism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/09\/PJ_2018.09.10_social-media-news_FINAL.pdf"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMms2033790"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2020.24514"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1700175114"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0894439317721985"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2575.2011.00384.x"},{"key":"ref17","unstructured":"Taking America's Temperature on the Vaccine: COVID-19 Vaccine & Policy SurveyCyberFlorida202101142021-03-25https:\/\/cyberflorida.org\/report\/vaccine-and-policy\/"},{"key":"ref18","unstructured":"ShearerESocial media outpaces print newspapers in the US as a news sourcePew Research Center201812102021-04-10https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2018\/12\/10\/social-media-outpaces-print-newspapers-in-the-u-s-as-a-news-source\/"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/19684"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10389-021-01539-5"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2020-004206"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21645515.2020.1780846"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.31083\/j.rcm.2020.04.195"},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/22205"},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0248160"},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2702.203139"},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techfore.2021.120600"},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/26570"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.20-0812"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.2912"},{"key":"ref31","unstructured":"@HHSGovSave the date! 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