Social media as a driver of physical activity: A snapshot from sport sciences students

The primary aim of the current study was to synthesize evidence of the effect of social media use compared with no social media use as part of interventions to reduce risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. Databases were searched up to June 10, 2014, using medical subject headings. A secondary aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of social media use compared with no social media use in reducing the risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, stratifying the results by the extent of bias on outcomes, by social media use alone, and by the levels of social presence and media richness. Sixteen trials (n=10,711 participants) met the inclusion criteria, but interventions mostly used social media with low levels of media richness and presence (e.g., discussion boards, bulletin boards). Meta-analysis of all trials showed no significant differences (standardized mean difference [SMD] -0.14; 95%CI -0.28 to 0.01), with similar findings for physical activity (SMD 0.07; 95%CI -0.25 to 0.38), body weight (SMD 0.07; 95%CI -0.17 to 0.20), and fruit and vegetable intake (SMD 0.39; 95%CI -0.11 to 0.89). Trials assessing social media interventions aimed at modifying risk factors for noncommunicable diseases showed that social media use improved the primary outcomes, but the overall quality of the included studies limits the generalizability of these findings. Further trials are warranted, especially to isolate the effect of social media use and to fully evaluate the effect of the social presence and media richness of social media platforms.

The changing communication and media landscape brought on by the rise of social media and mobile platforms has significant implications on cancer control and prevention efforts. Over the last decade, the online landscape has changed from a space characterized primarily by static content into one that is defined by dynamic networks, interactivity, and user-generated content. Online cancer communication—whether about screening, tobacco use, or treatment options—is becoming ubiquitous, and the boundary between health communicators and their audience is blurred. This high volume of content is contains cancer communication of all types—from evidence-based advice to myths and inaccuracies. Scientists have the opportunity to leverage these conversations both to understand public knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about cancer and to support cancer control efforts. Despite the changes in communication patterns, barriers (such as reliable Internet access and cell phone services) persist among poor and underserved populations. However, opportunities to narrow the access gap are growing and increasingly being explored in light of high social and mobile media penetration rates among racial/ethnic minorities. New media platforms hold potential for narrowing the digital divide, and enabling equitable patient education and empowerment programs. This presentation will: 1) highlight the role of social and mobile media in communication about cancer, both in peer-driven online communities as well as public health and clinical care; 2) explore current patterns of social media use by socio-demographic and health factors (including race/ethnicity, age, sex, education, health status) and identify opportunities for narrowing the digital divide; 3) discuss communication research priorities and promising new methods and approaches. Recent findings from NCI's 2012-13 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) and the PEW Internet American Life Project will be highlighted to show trends and patterns of online communication. Specific attention will be drawn to data on social media engagement among racial/ethnic minorities and underserved populations in order to highlight opportunities for alleviating burdens of cancer disparities. In addition, we will feature exemplary communication research mining and analyzing social media interactions to understand cancer-related attitudes and behaviors, as well as a number of online cancer control interventions using social media. These examples will cover a wide range of cancer control efforts from tobacco control, HPV vaccination education, cancer screening communication, cancer survivorship support, to promotion of healthy diet and physical activities. As the Internet continues to affect the way we seek and share health information and engage in health care, understanding how the online communication landscape is being used to share cancer-related topics can inform strategies for increasing the reach and effectiveness of evidence-based cancer information. In order to address cancer health disparities, increasing equitable Internet access, promoting digital health literacy, and identifying influential online networks amendable to intervention are among top priorities in cancer communication research. Citation Format: Wen-ying Sylvia Chou. Using communication science to reduce cancer health disparities: Inequities in access and opportunities for narrowing the digital divide. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr ED03-01. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-ED03-01

BackgroundMost American adolescents have access to smartphones, and recent estimates suggest that they spend considerable time on social media compared with other physical and leisure activities. A large body of literature has established that social media use is related to poor mental health, but the complicated relationship between social media and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents is yet to be fully understood.ObjectiveWe aim to investigate the relationship between social media use and depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents by exploring physical activity as a mediator.MethodsA Qualtrics survey manager recruited adult panel participants between February and March 2019, who indicated that they had adolescent children who spoke English. A total of 4592 adolescent-parent dyads completed the survey that took approximately 39 minutes. The survey entailed completing web-based questionnaires assessing various aspects of social media use, psychological symptoms, and psychosocial factors. The average age of the adolescent participants was 14.62 (SD 1.68; range 12-17) years, and the majority of the adolescent sample was male (2392/4592, 52.09%).ResultsTotal social media use was associated with more depressive symptoms (multiple R2=0.12; F3,4480=207.1; P<.001), anxiety (multiple R2=0.09; F3,4477=145.6; P<.001), and loneliness (multiple R2=0.06; F3,4512=98.06; P<.001), controlling for age and gender. Physical activity was associated with decreased depression and anxiety symptoms after controlling for other extracurricular activities and social media use (multiple R2=0.24; F5,4290=266.0; P<.001). There were significant differences in symptoms based on gender: female adolescents reported higher rates of social media use and males reported higher rates of depression. Nonbinary and transgender adolescents had higher rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness than the female and male adolescents in the sample.ConclusionsIn a nationally representative sample of adolescents, more social media use was associated with more severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Increased physical activity was associated with decreased depression and anxiety symptoms. Physical activity partially mediated the relationship between social media use and depression and anxiety. As this was a cross-sectional study, we cannot conclude that social media use causes internalizing symptoms or that physical activity leads to decreased internalizing symptoms—there may be additional confounding variables producing the relationships we observed. Physical activity may protect against the potentially harmful effect of social media on some adolescents. The effect sizes were small to medium, and the results should be interpreted with caution. Other limitations of this study include our reliance on self-reporting. Future work should examine social media use beyond how much time adolescents spend using social media and instead focus on the nature of social media activity.

This review combined data for a variety of outcomes and found that social media interventions that aim to increase physical activity may be effective and social media interventions may improve well-being. While we assessed many other outcomes, there were too few studies to compare or, where there were studies, the evidence was uncertain. None of our included studies reported adverse effects related to the social media component of the intervention. Future studies should assess adverse events related to the interactive social media component and should report on population characteristics to increase our understanding of the potential effect of these interventions on reducing health inequities.

BackgroundThis mixed methods study explored how social media use informed physical activity and diet-related behaviours, and self-perceived Quality of Life (QoL) during COVID-19, and assessed the contextual factors that drive social media use for health-related behaviour change in diverse groups. During the COVID-19 lockdown periods there were reported changes to social media use and health behaviours, and this gave an opportunity to investigate potential relationships.MethodsAn explanatory sequential research design of two parts was used: (1) An online survey that assessed social media use in relation to physical activity levels, diet quality and QoL (n = 786; Mage 45.1 ± 19.1 (range 16–88) years; Female =69%); (2) 20 purposive focus groups (n = 69; Mage = 52.88 ± 18.45 years, Female n = 68%) to understand the contextual factors that drive social media use for health-related behaviour change. Descriptive and thematic analysis were conducted.ResultsParticipants in this study reported that social media facilitated the self-management of behaviours related to physical activity, diet and QoL, through access to information to inform workouts and dietary quality, and the opportunities for interaction with peers, family members and within social groups. Contextual factors including work, home and lifestyle arrangements, pre-existing health-related knowledge and behaviours, and the perceived value of social media for health influenced the relationship between social media use and self-reported outcomes. Social media influencers, peers/family members, and official organisations influenced the application of health-related information accessed via social media.ConclusionsThe evidence shows that participants were critical users of social media and were able to use social media to derive benefit for their health and wellbeing. Detailed guidance for those who use social media, as well as those who recommend and endorse social media content is required to maximise the potential of social media to support health behaviours. Future public health strategies and social media interventions should acknowledge diversity in contextual factors driving social media use for health behaviour change.

Background: Social media became an integral part of the lives of people because it encourages social relations and shares interests, activities, and real-life connections. As quarantine and lockdown orders are prolonged, many people, as well as those physically active individuals, typically responded to this stressful condition by using social media platforms.Objective: This study aimed to examine the level of physical activity of physically active individuals and their attitudes toward social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among physically active individuals in Saudi Arabia between June 2020 and July 2020. An online survey was employed among eligible participants who completed a self-administered questionnaire that covered reasons for physical activity and attitudes toward social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: Of these 323 participants, 29.1% were in the age group of 18–24 years, 66.6% were women, and 67.8% were single. The proportion of participants whose metabolic equivalent of tasks-min/week from vigorous activity <1,680 was 31.9%, and all of the participants follow people or pages in social media related to sports teams and fitness models. The average number of hours spent on social media per day was 2.95 ± 0.90 h. The majority of the participants showed positive attitudes toward social media used for exercise and physical activity. Of the eight variables, age, level of physical activity, and the average of hours spent on social media emerged as significant predictors of attitudes toward the use of social media (P < 0.05).Conclusions: The present survey results indicate adverse consequences of home quarantine as reflected by a small proportion of participants who had differences in levels of vigorous activities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Social media appears to be a key avenue to promote and disseminate health interventions to promote physical activity during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Social media has become a part of a college student’s environment, highlighting the importance of investigating the role that social media may play in PA participation and other health behaviors. Purpose: To describe social media use and physical activity (PA) participation in a sample of college students and explore relationships between social media and PA, including health and fitness social media. Methods: College students (age 18-29 years) enrolled at a four-year university completed an online questionnaire regarding self-reported social media use and PA participation. Independent sample t-tests were used to compare PA outcomes between those that follow health and fitness accounts and those who do not. A multiple linear regression model was used to examine associations between social media use and PA. Results: Two hundred and ninety-two students completed the questionnaire (63.72% female, 63.61% white, BMI 24.14±4.25 kg/m2). There was no difference in PA participation between those that do and do not follow health and fitness social media in moderate (p=0.17) or vigorous intensity PA (p=1.0) when controlling for confounding variables. Spending 1-2 hours/day (p=0.02) or 3-4 hours/day (p=0.01) on social media compared to &lt;1 hour/day and accessing social media in the evening (p=0.04) are associated with lower moderate PA. Conclusions: Following health and fitness social media may not have the intended impact on college student PA. Further research needs to be done to assess the most effective and impactful strategies for content delivery via social media to increase PA behavior.

Social marketing adopts marketing tools to achieve voluntary behaviour change, and has been effective in promoting a variety of public health and social wellbeing causes including, but not limited to, alcohol harm reduction (Kubacki, Rundle-Thiele, Pang, &amp; Buyucek, 2015a), improving rates of physical activity (Gordon et al., 2006; Xia et al., 2016) and promotion of healthy eating (Carins &amp; Rundle-Thiele, 2014). As social media have become an integral driver of modern communication in recent years (Lovejoy et al., 2012), social marketers have started incorporating the use of social media in their communications (Evans et al., 2019; Kubacki et al., 2015b; Li, Lia, &amp; Lin, 2017; Neiger et al., 2013). Although the prominent advantages of social media include their ability to engage communities through two-way conversations (Jaakkola &amp; Alexander, 2014; Larivière et al., 2017), along with allowing them to create their own content (Ashley &amp; Tuten, 2015; Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, &amp; Silvestre, 2011), research suggests that social marketers have little knowledge about the use of social media for creating customer engagement in social marketing programmes (James et al., 2013; Justice-Gardiner et al., 2012; Neiger et al., 2012; 2013; Overbey, Jaykus, &amp; Chapman, 2017). Further, social marketers have struggled to engage their audiences on social media, despite their potential to scale up programme reach and build ongoing community support to help resolve social issues (Rodriguez, Ostrow, &amp; Kemp, 2017). Recognising the importance of creating customer engagement to bring about behaviour change, and also the noticeable dearth of research assessing the effectiveness of social media in creating such engagement, this PhD seeks to provide new insights into how to engage customers in social marketing programmes through the use of social media. This research was carried out as a series of inter-related studies. Study 1 is a systematic literature review to identify, analyse and evaluate social marketing programmes that have included the use of social media to engage their programme participants. Specifically, this study aims to better understand the use of social media in creating participant engagement across various social and health-related social marketing programmes. Study 2 involved qualitative in-depth interviews with social marketing practitioners who use social media to create engagement in their social marketing programmes as well as users who are engaged in these programmes via social media. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to gain an understanding of social marketing practitioners’ perceptions of customer engagement and the objectives and practices that guide their social media activities. Second, this study aims to develop insights into social media users’ perceptions of factors influencing their engagement in social marketing programmes. As a result, this study concludes with the proposition of a dynamic multi-actor social media engagement framework which is then applied in practice in Study 3. Study 3 consists of a netnography focusing on the communication of a social marketing initiative via social media. This study aims to explore the interactions between social marketing practitioners and users of their social media platform using the dynamic multi-actor engagement framework. Exploring their interactions provides insight into how these two groups engage with one another, and helps to identify the characteristics of their engagement on social media. The review of the existing social marketing programmes in Study 1 showed that social marketers were not harnessing social media’s potential in developing customer engagement and building relationships with their customers; rather, in most of the thirty-one social marketing studies examined, social media were mainly used to disseminate the programmes through one-way communication, with only a handful of programmes using social media to interact with users or to build enduring relationships with them. Moreover, conducting thirty-two interviews with social marketing practitioners and social media users allowed insights to be gained from both key stakeholder groups. Consequently, a new practical framework for multi-actor engagement in social marketing programmes was proposed along with measurement tools necessary for assessing its components. The multi-actor engagement framework recognises the dynamic and iterative engagement between multiple actors on social media, in contrast to simple dyadic interactions between the focal customer and organisation, which lead to the development of enduring and long-term relationships. The framework identified four distinct levels of engagement ― connection, interaction, loyalty and advocacy — all equally important constituents of engagement, and thus, equally important to developing sustainable social marketing impact. In addition, the application of this multi-actor engagement framework to understand, analyse and assess engagement behaviours in a real-life and ongoing social marketing programme on social media provided further insights into the applicability of the framework and identified additional measurements to further refine the overall applicability of the framework.

BackgroundAdolescents’ use of social media, which has increased considerably in the past decade, has both positive and negative influences on adolescents’ health and health behaviors. As social media is the most prominent communication tool of choice for adolescents, it is important to understand the relationship between the frequency of social media use and health behaviors among this population.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to examine the associations between the frequency of social media use and physical activity and sleep adequacy among middle and high school students.MethodsWe used data from the Monitoring the Future survey (2014 and 2015), a nationally representative, annual, cross-sectional survey of American 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students (N=43,994). Health behaviors examined were frequency of vigorous physical activity and frequency of getting 7 hours of sleep (never/seldom, sometimes, and every day/nearly every day). We measured frequency of social media use using a Likert-like scale (never, a few times a year, 1-2 times a month, once a week, or every day). Multivariable generalized ordered logistic regressions examined the association of social media use with different levels of physical activity and sleep. We estimated marginal effects (MEs) for the main independent variable (social media use frequency) by holding all other variables at their observed values.ResultsThe study population comprised 51.13% (21,276/42,067) female students, 37.48% (17,160/43,994) from the South, and 80.07% (34,953/43,994) from a metropolitan area, with 76.90% (33,831/43,994) reporting using social media every day. Among physically active students, frequent social media use was associated with a higher likelihood of vigorous daily exercise (ME 50.1%, 95% CI 49.2%-51.0%). Among sedentary students, frequent social media use was associated with a lower likelihood of vigorous daily exercise (ME 15.8%, 95% CI 15.1%-16.4%). Moderately active students who used social media once or twice a month had the highest likelihood of reporting vigorous daily exercise (ME 42.0%, 95% CI 37.6%-46.3%). Among those who normally got adequate sleep, daily social media users were least likely to report adequate sleep (ME 41.3%, 95% CI 40.4%-42.1%). Among those who were usually sleep deprived, daily social media users were more likely to report adequate sleep (ME 18.3%, 95% CI 17.6%-19.0%).ConclusionsRegular social media use every day was associated with a reinforcement of health behaviors at both extremes of health behaviors, whereas a medium intensity of social media use was associated with the highest levels of physical activity and lowest sleep adequacy among those with moderate health behaviors. Hence, finding an optimal level of social media use that is beneficial to a variety of health behaviors would be most beneficial to adolescents who are in the middle of the health behavior spectrum.

A Systematic Review of the Use of Social Media for Recruitment of Participants in Nutrition, Obesity, and Physical Activity Related Studies

Background There are growing concerns that social media may negatively impact adolescents’ mental health. However, most studies are cross-sectional, or short-term longitudinal studies, limiting conclusions about long-term effects. This study investigates whether social media use at age 15/16 is associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety five years later. It also explores differences by gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and physical activity. Methods Data come from a nationally representative cohort of Swedish adolescents. In 2017, 5535 students in grade 9 (age 15/16) completed a self-report survey. In 2022, 3193 participated in follow-up. Social media use (hours/day) was self-reported; depression and anxiety were measured using PHQ-4. Moderation by gender, SES, and physical activity were tested. Linear regression models were estimated. Results In unadjusted models, social media use at age 15/16 was positively associated with anxiety and depression five years later, but these associations were no longer significant after adjusting for confounders. No significant moderation by gender, SES or physical activity was observed. Conclusions Among Swedish adolescents, time spent on social media is not associated with more symptoms of anxiety or depression five years later. If the literature reaches consensus that social media use does not have long-term effects on mental health, an important implication is that efforts to reduce social media use by adolescents are unlikely to prevent mental health problems. Key messages • Frequent social media use in adolescence is not linked to symptoms of depression and anxiety in young adulthood. • Future longitudinal studies should examine which types of social media activities or experiences may be associated with negative outcomes.

Sex differences in the relationship between social media use, short sleep duration, and body mass index among adolescents

Though smartphone and social media use among college students has shown to be related to negative consequences, few interventions exist for modifying smartphone and social media use. The current study investigated the feasibility of implementing contingency management for reducing smartphone and social media use among college students. Contingency management involves offering individuals incentives for providing verifiable behavior change and has shown to be efficacious in modifying a variety of health-risk behaviors (e.g. smoking, cocaine use, physical activity). Participants (N = 32) who self-reported using social media on their iPhones for at least two hours per day completed a battery of health-related questionnaires, learned how to capture electronically smartphone-use data, then participated in contingency management for one week. During the intervention, we asked participants to reduce smartphone use daily from their individual baseline use (with the majority of the reduction deriving from social media use). If participants met daily intervention contingencies, we provided online vouchers to be exchanged for payment. On average, smartphone and social media use decreased during the intervention when participants were offered monetary incentives for reduction, and increased at follow-up assessment, suggesting that contingency management may be a useful experimental tool for intervening with smartphone and social media use among college students. The current study demonstrates that smartphone and social media use are malleable behaviors and can be manipulated using contingency management. Further work on clinical implications of reduced smartphone and social media use among college students is warranted.

Social Media Use During Social Distancing.

Use of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for recruiting healthy participants in nutrition-, physical activity–, or obesity-related studies: a systematic review