PRISM 2021 Attendance Survey
Planning on joining us in San Francisco for the in-person PRISM Health Symposium? Won’t be able to attend? Fill out our attendance survey or visit bit.ly/attend-prism! Please share with folks you think may be interested in attending.
Opportunities
Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) Analytics API
Facebook recently released its Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) platform. It includes a collection of API endpoints that helps identify trends on specific Facebook Pages of interest and how they’ve evolved over time. This API is meant specifically for academics to conduct longitudinal analyses with time series data. The FORT platform runs on an opinionated version of JupyterHub, supports multiple standard programs (e.g. SQL, Python, R), and a specialized bridge to specific Facebook Graph APIs.
Recent Social Media and Health Publications
Srivastav A, Park K, Koziarski A, Strompolis M, Purtle J. Who Is Talking About Adverse Childhood Experiences? Evidence From Twitter to Inform Health Promotion. Health Educ Behav. 2021 May 29:10901981211019280. doi: 10.1177/10901981211019280. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34053309.
Published in Health Education & Behavior, this study sought to understand how the public is framing, sharing, and using research about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on Twitter. Crimson Hexagon, a social media analytics system using Boolean logic, was used to identify salient topics, influencers, and conduct a content analysis of collected Tweets on the topics of ACEs, childhood resilience, and childhood trauma. Top two sentiments were fear and joy, with top conversation influencers including pediatricians, child health advocacy organizations, California’s state government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Public Radio.
Ayers JW, Chu B, Zhu Z, Leas EC, Smith DM, Dredze M, Broniatowski DA. Spread of Misinformation About Face Masks and COVID-19 by Automated Software on Facebook. JAMA Intern Med. 2021 Jun 7:e212498. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.2498. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34096988; PMCID: PMC8185625.
This new study analyzed conversations on public Facebook groups concerning the publication of the Danish Study to Assess Face Masks for the Protection Against COVID-19 Infection (DANMASK-19), which demonstrated the importance of masks as a public health measure to control the pandemic. Posts linking to DANMASK-19 that claimed that masks harmed the wearer was 2.3 times higher in Facebook groups that were most affected by automation vs group that were least affected by automation. Conspiratorial claims were also higher in Facebook groups that were most affected by automation. Making neither claim was more common in Facebook groups that were least affected by automation.
Allem JP, Dormanesh A, Majmundar A, Unger JB, Kirkpatrick MG, Choube A, Aithal A, Ferrara E, Boley Cruz T. Topics of Nicotine-Related Discussions on Twitter: Infoveillance Study. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jun 7;23(6):e25579. doi: 10.2196/25579. PMID: 34096875.
Co-authored by PRISM co-chair, Jon-Patrick Allem, PhD, this study identified and described nicotine-related topics of conversation authored by the public and social bots on Twitter, including any misinformation or misconceptions. Prevalent topics of posts included vaping, smoking, addiction, withdrawal, nicotine health risks, and quit nicotine, with mentions of going “cold turkey” and needing help in quitting. Cessation was a common topic, with mentions of quitting and stopping smoking. Social bots discussed unsubstantiated health claims including how hypnotherapy, acupuncture, magnets worn on the ears, and time spent in the sauna can help in smoking cessation. Health education efforts are needed to correct unsubstantiated health claims on Twitter and ultimately direct individuals who want to quit smoking to evidence-based cessation strategies.
Purushothaman V, Li J, Mackey TK. Detecting Suicide and Self-Harm Discussions Among Opioid Substance Users on Instagram Using Machine Learning. Front Psychiatry. 2021 May 31;12. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.551296
To detect and characterize suicide and self-harm related conversations co-occurring with substance use disorder (SUD) posts and comments, this study co-authored by PRISM Steering Committee member, Tim K. Mackey, PhD, MAS, used big data and machine learning approaches to collect and classify Instagram posts. Posts were first classified for online drug diversion topics and then filtered to detect suicide and mental health discussions. Posts and comments were then manually annotated for SUD and mental health co-occurring themes. Posts self-reporting SUD and mental health topics were more likely to discuss suicide compared to those that did not discuss SUD and mental health topics, respectively. Major themes observed include concurrent discussions of suicide ideation and attempts, as well as low self-esteem.
Majmundar A, Moran MB. For or against tobacco control: Sponsored tobacco advocacy messages on Facebook and Instagram. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2021;(ntab111). doi:10.1093/ntr/ntab111
This study explored sponsored tobacco advocacy messages on Facebook and Instagram by examining differences in message performance metrics, funding sources, and audience characteristics of anti- and pro-tobacco messages in the United States. Overall, anti-tobacco messages exceeded pro-tobacco messages. Anti-tobacco messages had lower potential reach, received a lower proportion of impressions, and spent a lower proportion of money per message. Pro-tobacco advocacy was primarily funded by the tobacco industry and advocacy groups. A small fraction of anti-tobacco advocacy messages reached young adults and men. Among pro-tobacco advocacy messages, a majority of messages highlighting tobacco regulations, addiction, citizen advocacy, flavors and impact on economy reached mostly men.
Wawrzuta D, Jaworski M, Gotlib J, Panczyk M, Characteristics of Antivaccine Messages on Social Media: Systematic Review, J Med Internet Res 2021;23(6):e24564. doi: 10.2196/24564. PMID: 34085943
To react and respond to the false information published by supporters of the antivaccination movement, this review aimed to assess and synthesize evidence related to the current state of knowledge about antivaccine social media users’ web-based activities. After reviewing 731 total records, 18 articles were included in the qualitative synthesis. The included studies dealt with the popularity of provaccination and antivaccination content, the style and manner in which messages about vaccines were formulated for the users, a range of topics concerning vaccines (harmful action, limited freedom of choice, and conspiracy theories), and the role and activity of bots in the dissemination of these messages in social media.