Facebook Advertising Research Articles

Recruiting families using social media versus pediatric obesity clinics: A secondary analysis of the Aim2Be RCT

BackgroundRecruitment of participants continues to be a challenge that researchers must overcome to yield successful study results. Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of social media platforms to recruit research participants. We conducted a secondary analysis of the Aim2Be randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine if there was variability between participants recruited via social media versus pediatric obesity clinics. MethodsParents and their children living with overweight or obesity were recruited through social media (i.e., Facebook advertisements) (n = 119) or pediatric obesity management clinics (n = 95) to participate in the Aim2Be RCT. We compared recruitment costs, recruitment rate, participant retention, intervention engagement, obesity-related risk factors, and behavioral habits. ResultsFacebook recruitment resulted in more participant contacts, but higher attrition during ‘high effort’ stages of the recruitment process. Group differences emerged regarding costs (Facebook: $407 versus clinics: $699). There were no group differences in participant retention or intervention engagement. Families recruited from Facebook were younger parents (42.6 versus 46.0 years; p < 0.001) and children (12.2 versus 13.9 years; p < 0.001), a higher percentage male children, and fewer had previously participated in a pediatric weight management program. Parents recruited from Facebook self-reported greater screen time for themselves, and their children reported lower physical activity levels and higher caloric and sugar intake. ConclusionsSocial media and clinical site recruitment are complementary strategies that appear to draw in families with different profiles, but regardless of how they were recruited, all families had the potential to benefit from pediatric obesity management.

Use of Galactagogues to Increase Milk Production A mong Breastfeeding Mothers in the United States: A Descriptive Study.

Perceived insufficient milk is a primary reason for early breastfeeding cessation. Some breastfeeding mothers may use galactagogues (ie, foods, beverages, herbal supplements, and pharmaceuticals) to try to increase milk supply. However, milk production requires frequent and effective milk removal, and there is limited evidence on the safety and efficacy of galactagogues. Additional research on the use of galactagogues is needed to inform breastfeeding support. Describe the prevalence of use and perceived effects of galactagogues and compare galactagogue use by maternal characteristics. Cross-sectional online survey. A convenience sample of 1,294 adult women breastfeeding a singleton child and living in the United States were recruited using paid Facebook advertisements between December 2020 and February2021. Self-reported current or previous use of galactagogues and their perceived effects on milk production. Frequencies and percentages described the use and perceived effects of galactagogues. The χ2 test of independence and independent t tests compared galactagogue use by select maternal characteristics. More than half of participants (57.5%) reported using any galactagogues, 55.4% reported consuming foods or beverages, and 27.7% reported using herbal supplements. Few participants (1.4%) reported using pharmaceuticals. Participants reported varying effects of specific galactagogues on milk production. Reported galactagogue use was higher among participants who reported first-time breastfeeding (yes: 66.7% vs no: 49.3%; P < 0.001), breastfeeding pumped milk (yes: 63.1% vs no: 50.4%; P < 0.001), formula supplementation (yes: 66.8% vs no: 50.4%; P < 0.001), and perceived insufficient milk (yes: 78.8% vs no: 53.8%; P < 0.001). Breastfeeding mothers in the United States commonly reported using galactagogues to increase milk production, highlighting the need for research on the safety and efficacy of galactagogues and enhanced breastfeeding support.

Unlocking Growth Opportunities for Philippine Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises through Facebook Advertising and Growth Hacking Strategies in the Post-Pandemic Era

The rapid digitalization and changing business landscape in the post-pandemic era have presented new growth opportunities and challenges for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines. This study aims to explore the potential of Facebook advertising and Growth Hacking strategies as effective tools for unlocking growth opportunities for Philippine MSMEs during this transformative period. This study adopted survey research with 100 MSME owners and managers in Metro Manila, which investigated the current usage, perceptions, and effectiveness of Facebook advertising and growth hacking strategies. Additionally, it examined the factors influencing the adoption and implementation of these strategies, such as resource availability and digital literacy. The study’s findings intend to contribute to the understanding of how MSMEs in the Philippines can leverage Facebook Advertising and Growth Hacking strategies to drive business growth and navigate the evolving market dynamics in the post-pandemic era. The insights gained suggest practical implications for MSMEs, marketers, and policymakers, informing the development of tailored strategies and support mechanisms to utilize these digital tools for sustainable growth effectively.&#x0D; &#x0D;

Women's perspectives regarding osteoporosis, fracture risk, and pharmacologic treatment: a cross-sectional study.

Bisphosphonate medications can prevent the substantial bone loss that occurs during early menopause, but little is known about whether women would accept bisphosphonate treatment at this time in their life, when imminent fracture risk is low. We assessed women's perspectives regarding bone loss, fracture risk, and preventative pharmacotherapy in early menopause. In this cross-sectional study, Canadian women aged ≥ 45years were recruited via Facebook advertisement to complete an electronic survey. Primary outcome was the proportion of early menopausal respondents (≤ 5years since final menstrual period) who were worried about bone loss and fractures. Secondary outcomes were the proportionof early menopausal women willing to accept pharmacologic intervention aimed at preventingeither bone loss or future fractures. We compared responses between early menopausal women and older women (> 5years since final menstrual period). 2033 women responded to the Facebook advertisement, 1195 eligible women (aged: 45 to 89years) started the survey, and 966 completed it. Among early menopausal respondents (N = 98), 38 (42%) were worried about future fractures and 9 of 25 (36%) who had a prior bone mineral density scan were worried about their results. A total of 42 (47%) were willing to start medication to prevent fractures, and 48 (54%) would start medication to prevent bone loss. Responses were comparable between early menopausal women and older women. Menopausal women are concerned about bone loss and fractures. Many women would consider early menopausal pharmacotherapy, with the goals of preserving bone health and lowering their risk of fractures.

Unfilled prescriptions: Surveying patients' experiences with buprenorphine treatment in Massachusetts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We explored potential challenges to accessing office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) with buprenorphine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Facebook advertisements, we recruited a sample of N = 72 participants and conducted four repeated-measures analysis of variance comparing ratings of participants' abilities to access aspects of OBOT treatment. Participants reported increased difficulty filling buprenorphine prescriptions during the pandemic than before, p = .011, partial η2 = 0.092, and this was correlated with past month opioid use, r = .236, p = .042. This is the first investigation to report unfilled prescriptions during the pandemic and an association with opioid use. Unfilled prescriptions may contribute to relapse and partially explain increased overdose deaths during COVID-19.

Social Network Negativity and Physical Activity: New Longitudinal Evidence for Young and Older Adults 2015-2018

ABSTRACT Purpose: Physical activity (PA) has considerable public health benefits. Positive aspects of the interpersonal environment are known to affect PA, yet few studies have investigated whether negative dimensions also influence PA. This study examines the link between changing social network negativity and PA, net of stable confounding characteristics of persons and their environments. Method: Polling respondents in the San Francisco Bay Area over three waves (2015–2018), the UCNets project provides a panel study of social networks and health for two cohorts of adults. Respondents were recruited through stratified random address sampling, and supplemental sampling was conducted through Facebook advertising and referral. With weights, the sample is approximately representative of Californians aged 21–30 and 50–70. Personal social networks were measured using multiple name-generating questions. Fixed effects ordered logistic regression models provide parameter estimates. Results: Younger adults experience significant decreases in PA when network negativity increases, while changes in other network characteristics (e.g. support, size) did not significantly predict changes in PA. No corresponding association was found for older adults. Results are net of baseline covariate levels, stable social and individual differences, and select time-varying characteristics of persons and their environments. Conclusion: Leveraging longitudinal data from two cohorts of adults, this study extends understanding on interpersonal environments and PA by considering the social costs embedded in social networks. This is the first study to investigate how changes in network negativity pattern PA change. Interventions that help young adults resolve or manage interpersonal conflicts may have the benefit of helping to promote healthy lifestyle choices.

Recruiting farm parents for a 6-week online child safety survey study using paid Facebook advertisements

Agricultural populations are a popular target for research due to the industry's dangerous conditions, unique work environments, and youth-including workforce. However, reaching and recruiting eligible participants is challenging and expensive when compared to other industries. We conducted a two-phase, multi-week paid advertising campaign on Facebook.com, varying delivery time, imagery, verbiage, and targeting methods to recruit U.S. farm parents for an online survey study investigating childhood agricultural safety. Advertisements were active for 4 weeks in fall 2021 and 3 weeks in winter 2022 at $1,500 per week. The fall recruitment targeted farm parents, depicting three farm-related images, while the winter recruitment targeted all parents, depicting farm-rescue trainings with firefighters. The fall recruitment garnered 5,535 link clicks with a reach of 233,690 ($1.07 per click). The winter recruitment garnered 8,602 clicks with a reach of 750,764 ($0.53 per click) and higher user engagement. A total of 1,439 participants began the screener questionnaire, a conversion rate of 10.18%. Of 815 completed responses, 271 met our inclusion criteria. One hundred and sixty-four participants completed the study: 45 from fall (27.6% dropout) and 119 (40% dropout) from winter. The overall attrition rate was 38.1% and cost per completed response was $64 USD. We successfully recruited our target sample size for this study. Notably, advertisement timing, imagery, and sampling frame likely affected performance. A screening questionnaire was imperative in identifying sham responses. These findings show that paid Facebook advertising can be a feasible recruitment tool to engage with a traditionally difficult to reach population with proper precautions and planning.

Rapid Web-Based Recruitment of Patients With Psoriasis: Multinational Cohort Study.

Wide-ranging patient recruitment not restricted to the location of the investigator will provide a better representation of the patient population in clinical studies. Our goal was to assess the feasibility of a broad web-based recruitment strategy in an 8-week observational study of 500 study participants with psoriasis and healthy controls from locations remote from the investigator and to assess the cost associated with each participant. A decentralized team in Denmark recruited patients with psoriasis and healthy controls using Google and Facebook advertisements and posts to Facebook groups. All individuals were screened via the internet, and patients diagnosed with psoriasis were included. Questionnaires regarding itch and sleep were completed by both groups at inclusion, week 4, and week 8. During a 2-week recruitment period, 12,887 unique advertisement views were registered, and 839 participants were enrolled, of which 507 completed the study (220 with psoriasis and 287 healthy controls) with a retention rate of 60.4%. Participants were recruited from 11 different countries on 4 separate continents, mainly from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The recruitment rate was 59.9 participants per day, and the conversion rate was 57.2%. Recruitment costs were US $13 per enrolled participant and US $22 per participant completing the study. It is feasible and rapid to recruit a large number of participants from locations different from the investigator and to retain patients in an observational study with no visits to a clinical site at low costs.

Does Facebook Advertisement Matter to Entice Customers’ Responses? An Integrated Technology Acceptance Model

Facebook advertisement for food-related information is widespread on social media platforms. However, the effectiveness of this food advertisement in reaching out to the target consumers needs to get more attention. This study fills the gaps by determining the factors affecting consumer attitudes towards food advertisements on Facebook, their intentions to receive them, and their behavioural response. A research model was developed using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Advertising Value Model. Specifically, this study investigates the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, credibility, entertainment, informativeness, irritation, personalisation, and privacy concern attitudes towards food advertisements. This study deployed an online questionnaire to collect data from 206 Facebook users. Results show that perceived usefulness, entertainment, informativeness, irritation, and privacy concern significantly affect consumers’ attitudes, as well as the positive effect on consumers’ attitudes towards intention and behavioural response. The outcomes of this study may cast novel insight into the variables that influence consumer attitudes and responses to Facebook food advertisements and provides valuable knowledge for food marketers to create superior advertising campaigns on social media platforms.

Research on the implantation and dissemination strategy of short creative advertising videos in the new media era

Interconnections and communication between people in social media enhance the information dissemination. This is leveraged by the business firms by using the social media as advertising platform for their products, brands and services. As interactive multimedia is more captivating than other media forms, the short and creative advertising videos are recently used as effective marketing tool. This work proposes a framework that taps the features of the video advertisements along with social networking properties like network clusters and network degree to determine the transmission and retransmission of video between primary and secondary level clusters. The degradation in retransmission is estimated using the connections and their influence computed as connection coefficient between the nodes. The proposed framework is validated on Facebook advertisement videos by assessing its efficacy in dissemination and implementation of the products. The detailed experimentation reveals that the proposed model is much effective in determining the dissemination and implementation of the video content with the average mean square error of 0.24. The work is robust and versatile, that it could be deployed to other social media networks by customising the estimation of transmission and retransmission rate.

Understanding Recruitment Yield From Social Media Advertisements and Associated Costs of a Telehealth Randomized Controlled Trial: Descriptive Study.

Recruiting study participants for clinical research is a challenging yet essential task. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, offer the opportunity to recruit participants through paid advertisements. These ad campaigns may be a cost-effective approach to reaching and recruiting participants who meet specific study criteria. However, little is known about the extent to which clicks on social media advertisements translate to the actual consent and enrollment of participants who meet the study criteria. Understanding this is especially important for clinical trials conducted remotely, such as telehealth-based studies, which open the possibility to recruit over large geographical areas and are becoming more common for the treatment of chronic health conditions, such as osteoarthritis (OA). The aim of this study was to report on the conversion of clicks on a Facebook advertisement campaign to consent to enrollment in an ongoing telehealth physical therapy study for adults with knee OA, and the costs associated with recruitment. This was a secondary analysis using data collected over the first 5 months of an ongoing study of adults with knee OA. The Delaware Physical Exercise and Activity for Knee Osteoarthritis program compares a virtually delivered exercise program to a control group receiving web-based resources among adults with knee OA. Advertisement campaigns were configured on Facebook to reach an audience who could be potentially eligible. Clicking on the advertisement directed potential participants to a web-based screening form to answer 6 brief questions related to the study criteria. Next, a research team member called individuals who met the criteria from the screening form and verbally asked additional questions related to the study criteria. Once considered eligible, an electronic informed consent form (ICF) was sent. We described the number of potential study participants who made it through each of these steps and then calculated the cost per participant who signed the ICF. In sum, between July and November 2021, a total of 33,319 unique users saw at least one advertisement, 9879 clicks were made, 423 web-based screening forms were completed, 132 participants were successfully contacted, 70 were considered eligible, and 32 signed the ICF. Recruitment costed an average of US $51.94 per participant. While there was a low conversion from clicks to actual consent, 32% (32/100) of the total sample required for the study were expeditiously consented over 5 months with a per-subject cost well below traditional means of recruitment, which ranges from US $90 to US $1000 per participant. Clinicaltrails.gov NCT04980300; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04980300.

What do women need to know about long-acting reversible contraception? Perspectives of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

To identify components of an online education intervention to improve preference for, and uptake of, long-acting reversible contraception in women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD). Women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds have greater rates of unintended pregnancies than those born locally and are less likely to use long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), which are highly effective at reducing unintended pregnancy. Increasing the uptake of LARC in women from CALD backgrounds may reduce the burden of unintended pregnancy in this high-risk group. An online education intervention has been shown to be effective at increasing preference for and uptake of LARC in young women. We aimed to describe what women from CALD backgrounds thought were the potentially effective components of an online education intervention to increase preference for, and uptake of, long-acting reversible contraception. This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with six Australian English-speaking women from each of Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern cultural backgrounds. Women were recruited through targeted Facebook advertising. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke thematic analysis. A total of 18 participants were interviewed. We have demonstrated the importance of messages tailored to cultural values, translating the video, widening the target audience to both men and women and using specific social media platforms. For all women, the video needs to highlight the covertness of contraceptive methods, alongside stating cost and approach to access. For Indian women, the video needs to highlight the effect of LARC methods on the menstrual period for Indian women and include basic information on women's health. For Middle Eastern women the video should be explicit about LARC not equating to abortion and emphasise the low efficacy of natural contraceptive methods. For Chinese women, the video should address the misconception that hormones damage the body. Regarding delivery of the video, it should be translated and delivered by a female doctor from the same culture. For Chinese women, the video should include women from the same culture sharing anecdotes and use WeChat and Chinese schools as a platform for dissemination. For Middle Eastern and Indian women government websites should be used for dissemination. The video should be made available to all decision-makers in the reproductive planning process including male partners of Middle Eastern women, parents and peers of Chinese women, and for Indian women the male partner, family, and community leaders. There is a wide range of cultural adaptations that can be made to the online education videos about LARCs to improve uptake of LARCs and hence reduce the burden of unintended pregnancy in women from CALD grounds. SO WHAT?: Our findings will be used to modify an online education video about LARCs so that it is culturally appropriate for women from CALD backgrounds.

Cure for weak manhood: A persuasive euphemism strategies in selected Nigerian herbal medicines advertisements

The study examined herbal medicines advertising discourse as unique terms of depicting weak manhood euphemistically in order not to sound vulgar. Twelve advertisements (ads) served as the data of investigation. The data were taken from Facebook advertisements (both texts and images) and analyzed from the purviews of Barthesian denotative and connotative annotations, Halliday's transitivity concepts, and critical discourse analysis. This study aims to examine how weak manhood is portrayed, the ideology behind its portrayal, and the persuasive techniques used in the ads. The study revealed concealments in form of sexual satisfaction (e.g. next match, lasting gbola, bigga gbola, better something, leg shaking) and power/activeness (e.g. big carrot, strongest bamboo, Manpower, 45 mins, inner chamber, excellence in the other room, power to do more, and extra time/large). The study suggested that further researches to analyze from a multimodal perspective on how different visual and linguistic choices deployed in the herbal cure for weak manhood ads contribute to the euphemistic and persuasive import of taboo-related advertising. Again, however acceptable euphemistic expressions may be in certain context; they are considered too explicit, pinged with negative connotation and therefore create war among readers.

Scenario-Based Messages on Social Media Motivate COVID-19 Information Seeking.

Communicating information about health risks empowers individuals to make informed decisions. To identify effective communication strategies, we manipulated the specificity, self-relevance, and emotional framing of messages designed to motivate information seeking about COVID-19 exposure risk. In Study 1 (N=221,829), we conducted a large-scale social media field study. Using Facebook advertisements, we targeted users by age and political attitudes. Episodic specificity drove engagement: Advertisements that contextualized risk in specific scenarios produced the highest click-through rates, across all demographic groups. In Study 2, we replicated and extended our findings in an online experiment (N=4,233). Message specificity (but not self-relevance or emotional valence) drove interest in learning about COVID-19 risks. Across both studies, we found that older adults and liberals were more interested in learning about COVID-19 risks. However, message specificity increased engagement across demographic groups. Overall, evoking specific scenarios motivated information seeking about COVID-19, facilitating risk communication to a broad audience.

'I no longer know that person': Experiences of families living with someone using crystal methamphetamine.

Crystal methamphetamine ('ice') use is a large and growing worldwide problem, yet few research studies have explored the impact of crystal methamphetamine use on affected friends and family members. We explored the experiences and narratives of family members and friends of people who use methamphetamine to inform the development of a Family and Friend Support Program. This paper reports on a subset of findings from a mixed method study, which sought to better understand the experiences of family members and friends of people who use methamphetamine. Participants were recruited via Facebook advertising and asked to complete a survey outlining their experiences. At the end of the survey, participants were invited to be interviewed by a clinical psychologist on the research team, to discuss their experiences in greater depth; seventeen people agreed to be interviewed. This paper is based on a qualitative thematic analysis of these interviews using Braun and Clarke's 6-stage approach to identify key areas of concern for friends and family members of people who use methamphetamine. Through thematic analysis, five key themes were developed, namely: (1) loss, (2) stigma, (3) support (or lack thereof), (4) ways of coping, and (5) the value in sharing personal experiences. The results of this study revealed the profound sadness, frustration and loss friends and family members experienced when caring for a loved one who uses methamphetamine. This loss was further complicated by societal stigma surrounding the use of methamphetamine, which often extended to friends and family members themselves. Since experiences of grief and loss were interwoven across the three themes, concepts of ambiguous loss, disenfranchised grief, and narrative constructivist approaches to understanding loss, were applied to the discussion of results. This study provides a more complete picture of family and caregiver experiences when caring for a loved one using methamphetamine, which may further help inform the design of intervention programs. Implications for future research and practice with this population are considered.

Nowcasting Daily Population Displacement in Ukraine through Social Media Advertising Data

AbstractIn times of crisis, real‐time data mapping population displacements are invaluable for targeted humanitarian response. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, forcibly displaced millions of people from their homes including nearly 6 million refugees flowing across the border in just a few weeks, but information was scarce regarding displaced and vulnerable populations who remained inside Ukraine. We leveraged social media data from Facebook's advertising platform in combination with preconflict population data to build a real‐time monitoring system to estimate subnational population sizes every day disaggregated by age and sex. Using this approach, we estimated that 5.3 million people had been internally displaced away from their baseline administrative region in the first three weeks after the start of the conflict. Results revealed four distinct displacement patterns: large‐scale evacuations, refugee staging areas, internal areas of refuge, and irregular dynamics. While the use of social media provided one of the only quantitative estimates of internal displacement in the conflict setting in virtual real time, we conclude by acknowledging risks and challenges of these new data streams for the future.

The moderating role of narcissism in predicting the behavior intention of the Palestinian university students towards adopting the new Facebook currency

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the factors affecting university students’ behavioral intentions towards adopting the new Facebook currency while controlling for the direct and the moderating impacts of narcissism.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire of 344 respondents from six major Palestinian universities was analyzed. The structural model is fitted for assessing the hypothesized relations.FindingsFindings indicate that the effect of Facebook advertisement in predicting the behavioral intentions to adopt the new Facebook currency relies on: privacy, security, the expectations in the new Facebook currency and knowledge about the targeting options within the Facebook platform. Moreover, the moderating role of narcissism supported the relationships between perceived privacy, the expectations in the new Facebook currency and knowledge about the targeting options within the Facebook platform but did not support the moderating role of narcissism in the relationships between perceived security and the behavioral intentions.Research limitations/implicationsIn this study, only the Facebook platform and the behavioral intention were investigated with data collected from Palestinian University students through self-reported cross-sectional survey.Practical implicationsThis study adds insight on the moderating role of narcissism in predicting the behavior intentions towards adopting the new Facebook currency (Diem) which has a substantial potential to threaten all other crypto currencies and the other alternatives. Therefore, managers should consider altering or adapting their Facebook advertising tactics accordingly.Originality/valueThis study is the first to contribute through empirical evidence from a developing country to theory building the results of clarifying the propensity to adopt the new Facebook currency, outlining the consumers’ reaction to social media advertising and its influential factors and providing evidence proving relevance of narcissism for non-Western users.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-12-2021-0666

SEEDING DOUBTS ABOUT VOTING BROADLY AND STRATEGICALLY: TRUMP AND BIDEN RHETORIC ONLINE IN THE 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

When rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, they did so mistrusting the electoral process and believing that Donald Trump had been robbed of the presidency. Presidential rhetoric has the power to shape the attitudes of the public and steer the country (Mercieca, 2020). Indeed, presidential rhetoric has the power to shape what Taylor (2004) describes as the social imaginary – the rhetorical construction of a version of a shared reality that takes hold in public discourse and public consciousness. Trump’s rhetoric in 2020 around the vote continued a narrative that he had started when he took office. In this study, using the framework of social imaginaries, we qualitatively and inductively analyze messaging on campaign social media accounts around the 2020 presidential campaign. We also examine the Facebook advertisements and the targets of those ads specifically around the vote. We compare Trump’s rhetoric to that of his opponent Joe Biden to contrast the distinct imaginaries around the vote each political candidate articulated. We find that Trump relied on his social media accounts to sow distrust of the vote process and doubt about the accuracy of the vote count on Election Day. More concerning, we also find that Trump attacked the voting process through his paid advertising on Facebook, targeting voters in key battleground states.

Optimizing Recruitment for Qualitative Research: A Comparison of Social Media, Emails, and Offline Methods

Participant recruitment through social media platforms has been suggested as an effective method for sampling from specific populations; however, recent online recruitment attempts have been met with varying levels of success. In the current study, we targeted a specific social media population: those who advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement, delineating between those with high and with low follower counts on Twitter. We compared the outcomes of our recruitment methods, which include Facebook ads; unpaid, personalized tweets; emails to groups involved in community advocacy; and offline methods. Included in our analysis is the amount of effort involved in each recruitment method, as well as advertising costs. Based on our comparison, Facebook advertising was the most effective form of social media recruitment for our study. In contrast, unpaid, personalized tweets were time consuming and ineffective.

Facebook Ads, COVID-19, and Smart City Dissemination

This research provides an innovative strategy to disseminate smart city programs during the pandemic through Facebook Ads. Socialization of the smart city program was hampered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used the systematic literature review method from various recent journals on the use of Facebook for the dissemination of public policy information. NVivo tools, qualitatively in-depth and comprehensive analysis will explain new methods’ findings in this digital age. Facebook ads were chosen because the field can target those who have an interest in smart cities. This study found that Facebook advertising as a digital platform for socializing smart city programs during the pandemic the public was more efficient in terms of time, effort, cost, and a wider target market. This study found an innovation, namely the use of Facebook advertising as a digital marketing platform in government affairs or the socialization of government programs to the public during the pandemic. Further studies could combine Facebook Ads with other platforms like Google Ads, SEO, and TikTok.&#x0D; Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic, Digital Platform, Smart City