Environmental scan of social media usage among Ontario public health units

Abstract

Social media is a relatively novel way to send and express information to a large number of people at one time. Public health units (PHUs) have started to use this forum, but there has been almost no research done on how it is being used and if the way information is presented is effective. Engagement is one way to track if something posted on a social media website is being disseminated effectively to the intended audience. If a post has a low level of engagement this means that less people saw it and read the information regardless of how many times it was posted or how much work was put into the post. This article summarizes an environmental scan completed to assess engagement from all Ontario’s PHUs’ usage of social media from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020. The social media platforms assessed in this scan are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tiktok, Pinterest, and Reddit. All social media platforms except Reddit are being used by PHUs in Ontario. Twenty-nine PHUs have their own social media profiles, and five have their profiles included in their municipality’s. Engagement varies by region and platform, but in general increased posting (especially on Twitter and Facebook) had a small negative effect on engagement. Posting less often but with more original or creative content leads to better engagement. Increased follower counts also accounted for higher engagement across all platforms. PHUs would best use their resources to increase follower count and post less often and include more personalized posts to effectively spread their information.