Health Research on Social Media is on the Rise
As more adults turn to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and post personal information, it’s not too surprising that they are also using these platforms to research health information.
There has been a 25% increase in social media use for healthcare research in the last two years, according to Kantar Media’s 2014 MARS Online Behavior Study. From Facebook to YouTube to another new social platforms, social is surely on the rise for health. For example, the number of people who are watching informational videos about health wellness increased 78% and the number visiting online message boards to read about a specific health topic surged by 58%. There were also major increases in reading blogs about a health topic and visiting user-generated content sites, like Wikipedia.
Of the adults that agree with this statement, “The Internet is the first source I turn to when researching health and wellness:”
- 78.8% have watched video clips online
- 70.4% have caught up with or posted on a social network in the last 30 days
These social savvy adults are much more likely to regularly visit social websites for health and wellness information. They are 38% more likely to visit Twitter, 35% more likely to visit Pinterest, 23% more likely to visit YouTube and 8% more likely to visit Facebook.
For more information about accessing full study results, contact us here.
The MARS Online Behavior Study helps the industry make better decisions about how to incorporate online into pharmaceutical and OTC marketing strategies. The MARS Online Behavior Study is fielded as a re-contact among the MARS Core respondents who said they accessed the Internet in the last 30 days.
Comments