The personal use of Facebook by public health professionals in Canada: Implications for public health practice

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective: We explored attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of Canadian public health professionals (PHPs) and their personal use of Facebook to assess views of online professionalism and blurring between their professional and personal lives.Methods: Ten public health organizations assisted in distributing an online questionnaire to their members. The questionnaire explored Facebook use, personality factors, and beliefs about online etiquette.Results: Among 621 respondents, 77% had a personal Facebook profile. Participants were unlikely to disclose personal information on Facebook. Generally, participants felt posting workday information online was inappropriate; however, 15 and 26% thought it acceptable to vent about the general public, and post comments about people or beliefs that oppose accepted public health views, respectively. Approximately one in four participants (26%) believed that the personal use of Facebook has an impact on one's role as a public health practitioner. One in eight participants (12%) was likely to search for members of the public with whom they had previous professional contact. The need for popularity and awareness of consequences were key predictors of participants' disclosure on Facebook.Conclusions: Overlap between the private and public lives of Canadian PHPs exists on Facebook, and highlights the potential for damage to public health credibility. Future research should evaluate any real-world impact of comments and venting (via personal Facebook profiles) on public health credibility, especially as public health continues to embrace social media for health interventions where online contact between individual employees of public health organizations and members of the general public is increased.