Analysing Credibility of UK Social Media Influencers' Weight-Management Blogs: A Pilot Study.

Christina Sabbagh,Emma Boyland,Alison Parrett,Catherine Hankey

doi:10.3390/ijerph17239022

Abstract

Social media influencers (SMI) are individuals with large follower engagement, who can shape the thoughts and dietary behaviours of their audience. Concerns exist surrounding the spread of dietary misinformation by SMI, which may impact negatively on public health, yet no standards currently exist to assess the credibility of their information. This study aimed to evaluate the credibility of key SMI weight management (WM) blogs (n = 9), piloting a pre-prepared credibility checklist. SMI were included if they had a blue-tick verification on ≥2 social media (SM) and an active WM blog. A sample of blog posts were systematically evaluated against thirteen credibility indicators under four themes: ‘transparency’, ‘use of other resources’, ‘trustworthiness and adherence to nutritional criteria’ and ‘bias’. Indicators were yes/no questions to determine an overall credibility percentage for each SMI. The ten most recent meal recipes from each blog were evaluated against Public Health England’s (PHE) calorie targets and the UK ‘traffic light’ food labelling scheme to assess nutritional quality. Percentages ranged from 23–85%, the highest gained by a Registered Nutritionist. SMI blogs may not be credible as WM resources. Given the popularity and impact of SM in the context of overweight, obesity and WM, this study may inform the methodological approach for future research.

Highlights

Obesity is a global health concern, affecting an estimated 650 million adults worldwide [1].Foods high in fat, sugar and/or salt (HFSS) are readily available, accessible and accepted, contributing to obesogenic environments, a key driver of population weight gain [2]
Two Social media influencers (SMI) were male and seven female, all aged 27–43 years. This reflects the most common age groups noted in previous studies of science bloggers [44], health bloggers [45] and a recent survey of UK influencers [46]
That the current study identified more than three times the number of female

Summary

Introduction

Obesity is a global health concern, affecting an estimated 650 million adults worldwide [1].Foods high in fat, sugar and/or salt (HFSS) are readily available, accessible and accepted, contributing to obesogenic environments, a key driver of population weight gain [2]. Obesity is a global health concern, affecting an estimated 650 million adults worldwide [1]. Implementing governmental policy and legislation may improve obesity-related population health [3]. Links exist between digital marketing of HFSS products, their intake, and overconsumption in children [4], with online. SM remains under-legislated, with loopholes existing in current marketing regulations [5]. SM is defined as ‘websites and computer programs that allow people to communicate and share information on the internet using a computer or mobile phone [6]’, and in the UK there are currently around 45 million active SM users [7]. Brands have favoured SMI marketing, spending an estimated USD 8 billion globally in 2019, projected to increase to USD 15 billion by 2022 as popularity grows [11]

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