Social media use
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Social Media Use: A Comprehensive Overview
Social Media for Knowledge Sharing
Social media has revolutionized the way individuals and organizations share knowledge. Advanced social media tools facilitate communication, content sharing, interaction, and collaboration on both personal and organizational levels. A systematic review of studies from 2010 to 2016 identified 103 primary studies focusing on social media's role in knowledge sharing. The majority of these studies examined user behaviors, highlighting the utility and benefits of social media platforms for knowledge dissemination and collaboration.
Social Media in Health Contexts
Health Purposes and Interventions
Social media has become a crucial tool for health-related purposes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic review covering studies from 2006 to 2020 identified ten distinct uses of social media in health contexts, including health interventions, campaigns, medical education, and disease outbreak surveillance. New uses have emerged, such as advancing health research, social mobilization, and facilitating offline health-related services. However, research gaps remain in strategic social media use, impact evaluation, and privacy concerns.
Patient Engagement and Information Seeking
Patients increasingly use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to seek and share health information. They look for disease and treatment information, patient experiences, support groups, emotional support, and reviews of medicines and treatments. Platforms like PatientsLikeMe and Netwellness are also popular among patients for these purposes. Social media thus serves as a vital link between patients, the public, and health professionals.
Recruitment for Health Research
Facebook has proven to be an effective tool for recruiting participants for health research. Compared to traditional methods, Facebook recruitment is faster, cheaper, and better at reaching hard-to-reach demographics. Studies have shown that Facebook can successfully recruit young and diverse participants, although there is an overrepresentation of young white women.
Social Media in Research Workflows
Social media is extensively used throughout the research lifecycle, from identifying research opportunities to disseminating findings. A major international survey of 2,000 researchers revealed that collaborative authoring, conferencing, and meeting scheduling are the most popular social media applications in research. Mainstream platforms like Twitter are widely used, and social media has become an important complementary channel for research dissemination alongside traditional methods like journals and conference proceedings.
Social Media and Mental Health
Problematic Use and Mental Health
A meta-analysis examining the relationship between problematic social media use and mental health found negative correlations with well-being and positive correlations with distress. Problematic social media use is associated with lower life satisfaction and self-esteem, and higher levels of depression and loneliness. These correlations are consistent across various platforms and demographic groups.
Adolescents' Mental Health and Well-Being
A scoping review of studies on social media use among adolescents highlighted a complex relationship between social media and mental health. Most studies focused on negative outcomes like depression, with Facebook being the most studied platform. The review found that the majority of research examines social media use as an independent variable, often measuring frequency and duration of use. Positive outcomes of social media use are less frequently studied.
Social Media in Organizational Contexts
Employee Use and Knowledge Management
Employees use social media technologies for various purposes, including legal aspects, human resources management, knowledge management, learning, and communication. A review of 66 articles revealed that research on employee use of social media is fragmented and calls for more quantitative studies, mixed-method approaches, and theory-based research.
Business Opportunities and Challenges
Businesses are increasingly interested in leveraging social media for profitable use. Social media applications like Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter offer opportunities for collaborative projects, content communities, and social networking. However, there is a need for a clearer understanding of social media's potential and strategic use in business contexts.
Conclusion
Social media's impact spans various domains, from knowledge sharing and health interventions to research workflows and organizational use. While it offers numerous benefits, challenges such as privacy concerns, mental health implications, and the need for strategic use remain. Future research should address these gaps to harness the full potential of social media.
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