I just read an hilarious article on how a guy survived 7 days without social media. Remember the days before Facebook and Twitter?
The article reminds me that social media has changed how we interact, including about health. Now we can ask family and friends, and even strangers, questions about health. We can get answers on how to cope or learn about a range of experiences that doctors are not privy to. Social media is another way for people to connect and share.
Social media can also be used by health organizations to provide information to the general public. For example, Health Canada uses Twitter to provide information about product recalls and safety information.
Being in the field of population and public health, the next question that arose in my head was: How can social media be used to reduce health inequities and improve population health? Upstream changes in policy and in social and economic conditions are needed rather than a focus on changing individual behaviour. It means targeting an audience of policy-makers and others who have the power to change social and economic conditions (and those who support them). It also means communicating an underlying or explicit message of equity and engagement (to work towards common goals) regardless of audience.
A lot of the dialogue on social media and health seems to relate to health care. It’s time to shift some of that dialogue to prevention.
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