What is it about?
The advent of social media as a communication tool has direct implications to health care practice. Social media can help reach a large number of populations very quickly with little effort. While the accuracy of the content is questionable, it is important to recognize that some populations are accessing this information, and this may have bearing toward their health outcomes (i.e., help-seeking, rehabilitation uptake, rehabilitation use, and satisfaction).
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Why is it important?
There are no regulatory mechanisms that can monitor and regulate the content in the Internet and social media. However, it is important for health care professionals to be aware of the type of information presented in different platforms. As the electronic media tends to highlight the popular news, it helps professionals keep on the top of information trends in specific topic areas (e.g., tinnitus). Moreover, health care professionals can be better prepared to discuss issues that are in the popular media with patients.
Perspectives
I hope this article makes what people might think is a slightly abstract area like health-related social media and measuring things like health, kind of interesting and maybe even exciting. Because the way we spend time on health and social media is not just a problem for healthcare workers and researchers to worry about - it is an issue that touches every single human being on this planet in one way or another. More than anything else, and if nothing else, I hope you find this article thought-provoking.
Jianyuan Ni
Lamar University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Twitter Usage Using Common Reference to Tinnitus, American Journal of Audiology, June 2020, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2020_aja-19-00055.
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