Social Media Survey Research Articles

Potential of Using Twitter to Recruit Cancer Survivors and Their Willingness to Participate in Nutrition Research and Web-Based Interventions: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BackgroundSocial media is rapidly changing how cancer survivors search for and share health information and can potentially serve as a cost-effective channel to reach cancer survivors and invite them to participate in nutrition intervention programs.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the feasibility of using Twitter to recruit cancer survivors for a web-based survey and assess their willingness to complete web-based nutrition surveys, donate biospecimens, and to be contacted about web-based nutrition programs.MethodsWe contacted 301 Twitter accounts of cancer organizations, advocates, and survivors to request assistance promoting a web-based survey among cancer survivors. The survey asked respondents whether they would be willing to complete web-based nutrition or lifestyle surveys, donate biospecimens, and be contacted about web-based nutrition programs. Survey promotion rate was assessed by the percentage of Twitter accounts that tweeted the survey link at least once. Survey response was assessed by the number of survey respondents who answered at least 85% (26/30). We compared the characteristics of cancer survivors who responded to this survey with those who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010 and evaluated factors associated with willingness to complete web-based surveys, donate biospecimens, and be contacted to participate in web-based nutrition programs among those who responded to the social media survey.ResultsOver 10 weeks, 113 Twitter account owners and 165 of their followers promoted the survey, and 444 cancer survivors provided complete responses. Two-thirds of respondents indicated that they would be willing to complete web-based nutrition or lifestyle surveys (297/444, 67.0%) and to be contacted to participate in web-based nutrition interventions (294/444, 66.2%). The percentage of respondents willing to donate biospecimens were 59.3% (263/444) for oral swab, 52.1% (231/444) for urine sample, 37.9% (168/444) for blood sample, and 35.6% (158/444) for stool sample. Compared with a nationally representative sample of 1550 cancer survivors in NHANES, those who responded to the social media survey were younger (53.1 years vs 60.8 years; P<.001), more likely to be female (93.9% [417/444] vs 58.7% [909/1550]; P<.001), non-Hispanic whites (85.4% [379/444] vs 64.0% [992/1550]; P<.001), to have completed college or graduate school (30.1 [133/444] vs 19.9% [308/444]; P<.001), and to be within 5 years of their initial diagnosis (55.2% [244/444] vs 34.1% [528/1550]; P<.001). Survivors younger than 45 years, female, and non-Hispanic whites were more willing to complete web-based nutrition surveys than older (65+ years), male, and racial or ethnic minority survivors. Non-Hispanic whites and breast cancer survivors were more willing to donate biospecimens than those with other race, ethnicity or cancer types.ConclusionsTwitter could be a feasible approach to recruit cancer survivors into nutrition research and web-based interventions with potentially high yields. Specific efforts are needed to recruit survivors who are older, male, racial and ethnic minorities, and from socioeconomically disadvantaged groups when Twitter is used as a recruitment method.

E100 Patient reported effect of dietary modification on the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis: a social media survey

E100 Patient reported effect of dietary modification on the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis: a social media survey

Launching Revolution: Social Media and the Egyptian Uprising’s First Movers

AbstractDrawing on evidence from the 2011 Egyptian uprising, this article demonstrates how the use of two social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter – contributed to a discrete mobilizational outcome: the staging of a successful first protest in a revolutionary cascade, referred to here as ‘first-mover mobilization’. Specifically, it argues that these two platforms facilitated the staging of a large, nationwide and seemingly leaderless protest on 25 January 2011, which signaled to hesitant but sympathetic Egyptians that a revolution might be in the making. It draws on qualitative and quantitative evidence, including interviews, social media data and surveys, to analyze three mechanisms that linked these platforms to the success of the January 25 protest: (1) protester recruitment, (2) protest planning and coordination, and (3) live updating about protest logistics. The article not only contributes to debates about the role of the Internet in the Arab Spring and other recent waves of mobilization, but also demonstrates how scholarship on the Internet in politics might move toward making more discrete, empirically grounded causal claims.

RESSuME: Employability Skills Social Media SurvEy

PurposeThis paper presents rESSuME: Employability Skills Social Media SurvEy, which is a tool developed to understand if and how employers screen candidates’ social media (SM) to identify personal employability attributes. In doing so, the purpose of this paper is to shed light into the potential mismatch between the personal purpose of SM and recruiters’ job-related use of this data.Design/methodology/approachrESSuME maps personal employability attributes to elements of Facebook (FB). It was delivered to 708 employers in the UK and the USA. The 415 completed surveys were statically analysed.FindingsMore than 75 per cent of those surveyed use FB to screen most candidates. Loyalty and reliability are the personal attributes employers most search for. They look for personal attributes examining posts, comments and photos. Country and gender differences are also reported. While in the USA, they focus on determining whether candidates have good appearance, in the UK they are more interested in gauging if candidates are reliable. Females are more concerned with establishing whether candidates display common sense than their male counterpart.Originality/valueThis work is the first to articulate a rationale and systematic approach to screen candidates’ SMPs to: identify personal employability attributes and systematically map personal attributes to features of FB. Thus, it contributes a novel, systematic and structured tool to do so: rESSuME. It is the largest study with recruiters to date and the first to provide empirical evidence on how candidates’ SMPs are screened: what personal employability attributes do recruiters looked for in SMPs; and what sections and features of FB do recruiters looked at to identify the candidates’ personal employability attributes.

Implementing mHealth Apps for Child Developmental Screenings: Opportunities and Challenges

Background: Clinical care guidelines for universal developmental screening are meant to identify at-risk children as early as possible so that early intervention can be initiated. However, despite years of initiatives, developmental screening rates remain less than ideal. Recent innovations in mHealth apps that integrate developmental screening may offer an alternate way to optimize screening rates if it can encourage co-use and seamless integration into clinical workflow. Objective: Prior to the planned deployment of a clinic-based mHealth developmental screening app, the research team sought to identify and characterize opportunities and challenges to implementation, focusing on clinic workflow and multi-stakeholder engagement with providers and parents. Methods: Three clinic settings were recruited to participate from one children’s hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Preimplementation clinical observations of workflow and team dynamics were performed. Potential adoption barriers and facilitators were explored through interviews with health care teams guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Parents with children aged 0-5 were recruited from study clinics and social media to complete a 26-item survey to gauge their attitudes towards using apps in place of paper screening forms and for tracking their child’s development. Results: Proposed implementation workflows were co-created with each clinical team so to not increase overall visit length, which was the main concern for health care providers. Providers had enthusiasm for use of mHealth tools; however, concerns were expressed about potential technology failures, data security and HIPAA and the workflow impacts. Two hundred fifty parents responded to the social media survey. The top reason for downloading child health apps were for a convenient way to track development (62.6%). Two-thirds of respondents expressed interest in an app that included developmental screening forms. Most parents prefer to complete screening tools on the day of the clinic visit (47.7%) or electronically prior to the visit (44.8%). Seventy-four percent of parents expressed a higher likelihood of using an app if recommended by the pediatrician. Conclusions: Parents and providers are interested and open to mHealth apps for child developmental screening. Provider buy-in and involvement in implementation planning is critical, both to integrating apps into clinic workflows and to encouraging parents to use the app.

Using social media for patient-reported outcomes: A study of genital appearance and sexual function in adult bladder exstrophy patients

There have been few prior studies on patient-centered outcomes of adults with bladder exstrophy; those performed have been single institution reviews. In collaboration with the Association for the Bladder Exstrophy Communities (ABeC) - an international support network for patients and families living with bladder exstrophy - an anonymous social media survey was performed of patient-reported genital appearance and erectile function. The study evaluated the Penile Perception Score (PPS) and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-15) in adult men with bladder exstrophy. It was hypothesized that scores would be significantly lower than prior reported scores for men without the condition. After review by an anonymous patient advocate volunteer, the ABeC performed an anonymous online survey using social media. Adult men with bladder exstrophy reported PPS, and satisfaction with penile length and axis that were lower than prior published controls (n=54, P<0.05). Orgasmic function, sexual desire, and overall satisfaction were also lower (n=46, P<0.05). There was no difference in erectile function or intercourse satisfaction compared to controls. There was an association between PPS and erectile function, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction (P<0.05) (Summary Fig.). Respondents identified urinary issues, genital appearance, and sexual function as the three main domains that warranted further research. This study found that PPS and IIEF-15 were low in adult men with bladder exstrophy, and worse perception of genital appearance was associated with worse sexual satisfaction. Social media is a novel tool for patient-centered outcomes research, and continued collaboration with patients and patient advocate groups is vital.

Social media in the REI clinic: what do patients want?

To elicit patient preferences for social media utilization and content in the infertility clinic. This was a cross-sectional survey study conducted in three US fertility practices. Women presenting to the infertility clinic for an initial or return visit were offered an anonymous voluntary social media survey. The survey elicited patient perception of whether social media use in the infertility clinic is beneficial, and preferences regarding topics of interest. A total of 244 surveys were collected during the study period, of which 54.5% were complete. Instagram is a more popular platform than Twitter across all age groups. Use of both platforms varies by age, with patients ≥ 40 less likely to be active users. The majority of respondents felt that social media provided benefit to the patient experience in the infertility clinic (79.9%). "Education regarding infertility testing and treatment" and "Myths and Facts about infertility" were the most popular topics for potential posts, with 93.4 and 92.0% of patients endorsing interest respectively. The least popular topic was "Newborn photos and birth announcements," with only 47.4% endorsing interest. A little over half of respondents (56.3%) would feel comfortable with the clinic posting a picture of their infant. The vast majority of patients (96.2%) feel comfortable communicating electronically with their infertility clinic. Patients are interested in the use of social media as a forum for patient education and support in the infertility clinic. Patient preferences regarding post topics should be carefully considered.

Social media diaries and fasts: Educating for digital mindfulness with pre-service teachers

With social media access nearly ubiquitous, teachers and students must explore how to mitigate distractions and unhealthy uses. In this mixed methods study, the authors invited 60 pre-service teachers across two universities to cultivate mindfulness around social media beliefs, habits, and behaviors by completing a social media survey, diary, and fast. Participants identified reasons for regular social media use, including unconscious impulses, and made new realizations about what is gained and lost in social media engagements. Participants were optimistic about teaching similar lessons. The authors recommend pedagogical guidelines for social media mindfulness that allow for complexity, variance, and idiosyncrasy.

Undergraduate student nurses' attitudes towards using social media websites: A study from Jordan

BackgroundThe use of social media by university students is recognized worldwide. Student nurses are no exception, yet no studies have been reported to investigate the nurse students' use and views of social media in Jordan. The current study aims to assess the validity and reliability of an Arabic version of the modified Students Nurses' Use and Views of Social Media survey. MethodsIn a cross-sectional study conducted on 395 student nurses aged 19–39 enrolled at two universities (one public and one private) in north Jordan, information on their use and attitude to social media was obtained using the Arabic version of the Students Nurses' Use and Views of Social Media survey. Exploratory factor analysis and correlation matrices were conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the tool. ResultsThe Arabic version of the tool had a 0.84 alpha of internal consistency indicating a high level of reliability. The scale showed multi-dimensionality with items loading on two factors. ConclusionThe Arabic version of the Students Nurses' Use and Views of Social Media questionnaire demonstrated initial reliability and validity. This study reports positive attitudes of Jordanian student nurses towards professional and academic use of social media.

Comparing Social Media Data and Survey Data in Assessing the Attractiveness of Beijing Olympic Forest Park

Together with the emerging popularity of big data in numerous studies, increasing theoretical discussions of the challenges and limitations of such data sources exist. However, there is a clear research gap in the empirical comparison studies on different data sources. The goal of this paper is to use “attractiveness” as a medium to examine the similarity and differences of Social media data (SMD) and survey data in academic research, based on a case study of the Beijing Olympic Forest Park, in Beijing, China. SMD was extracted from two social media platforms and two surveys were conducted to assess the attractiveness of various locations and landscape elements. Data collection, keyword extraction and keyword prioritization were used and compared in the data gathering and analysis process. The findings revealed that SMD and survey data share many similarities. Both data sources confirm that natural ambience is more appreciated than cultural elements, particularly the naturalness of the park. Spaces of practical utility are more appreciated than facilities designed to have cultural meanings and iconic significance. Despite perceived similarities, this study concludes that SMD exhibits exaggerated and aggregated bias. This resulted from the intrinsic character of SMD as volunteered and unstructured data selected through an emotional process rather than from a rational synthesis. Exciting events were reported more often than daily experiences. Reflecting upon the strength and weakness of SMD and survey data, this study would recommend a combined landscape assessment process, which first utilizes SMD to build up an assessment framework, then applies conventional surveys for supplementary and detailed information. This would ultimately result in comprehensive understanding.

Study protocol: responding to the needs of patients with IgA nephropathy, a social media approach.

BackgroundIgA nephropathy is the most common cause of glomerulonephritis in the Western world and predominantly affects young adults. Demographically these patients are the biggest users of social media. With increasing numbers of patients turning to social media to seek information and support in dealing with their disease, analysis of social media streams is an attractive modern strategy for understanding and responding to unmet patient need.MethodsTo identify unmet patient need in this population, a framework analysis will be undertaken of prospectively acquired social media posts from patients with IgA nephropathy, acquired from a range of different social media platforms. In collaboration with patients and members of the clinical multidisciplinary team, resources will be created to bridge gaps in patient knowledge and education identified through social media analysis and returned to patients via social media channels and bespoke websites. Analysis of the impact of these resources will be undertaken with further social media analysis, surveys and focus groups.ConclusionsPatients with chronic diseases are increasingly using social networking channels to connect with others with similar diseases and to search for information to help them understand their condition. This project is a 21st century digital solution to understanding patient need and developing resources in partnership with patients, and has wide applicability as a future model for understanding patient needs in a variety of conditions.

Race, ethnicity and the strength of Facebook ties

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the role of race and ethnicity in the self-reported strength of the social ties of young adolescents on Facebook. Based on the social diversification hypothesis, which argues that in multicultural societies, race and ethnicity are key factors that shape the nature of associations, we examine whether there are ethnic and racial differences in the size and strength of the ties of adolescent Facebook users and the role of the strength of these ties in several positive outcomes. Using data from the U.S. Teens’ Social Media and Privacy Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life project among 802 teens ages 12–17, we found no differences in the total number of ties that adolescents from different ethnic and racial groups reported. However, African Americans reported significantly higher number of weak ties, while White Americans had a significantly higher number of strong ties. The results are consistent with the social diversification hypothesis. The implications of the findings are discussed.

CEO COMPENSATION AND CELEBRITY EARNINGS: AN ANALOGICAL COMPARISON

ABSTRACT This study examines whether excessively high CEO compensation and celebrity earnings are related to work performance or determined by market supply and demand factors. It seeks to compare the high salaries of top executives with the high earnings of popular movie celebrities based on characteristics such as pay levels, relationship between earnings and work/project success, and the influence of market supply and demand factors. Using a social media survey, this study found that respondents believed that executives and celebrity should demonstrate outstanding knowledge and skills, and that their compensations are overstated. Interestingly, the number of respondents who stated that CEO salary should be tied to company performance is greater than those who agreed that celebrity earnings should align with box office returns. The findings of this study suggest that overpayment to CEOs and celebrities results primarily from market factors rather than from work-related successes. Keywords CEO Compensation; Celebrity Earnings

Catathrenia (Nocturnal Groaning): A Social Media Survey and State-of-the-Art Review.

Catathrenia is an underrecognized nocturnal vocalization phenomenon that can be a source of perplexity to patients, bed partners, and medical providers. Catathrenia is distinct from both sleep talking (a parasomnia with loud talking during sleep) and snoring (noise due to vibration of upper airway soft tissues related to variations in airway resistance). The objective of this review is to provide an evidence-based resource to help the practitioner reliably evaluate and manage patients with this condition. Data were gathered from: (1) PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar; and (2) catathrenia social media groups (Yahoo and Facebook). Data collected were (1) 15 case reports and 17 case series describing 191 patients with catathrenia; (2) questionnaires from 47 catathrenia subjects; (3) 5 audio files. Catathrenia is a noise produced during sleep (distinct from snoring) with identifiable harmonics, a computable main frequency, and high-decibel intensity that involves active adduction and vibration of the vocal cords during expiration. The quality of groaning in catathrenia is monotone, and often presents with a morose or sexual connotation, causing a significant social problem for patients. Although there is no association with risk of physical harm, catathrenia does present a significant disturbance to the bed partner and has been associated with subjective impairments to sleep quality, including unrefreshing sleep and fatigue. Polysomnography can be useful if performed properly to confirm the diagnosis and to evaluate for comorbid sleep disturbances, such as obstructive sleep apnea or parasomnia. Directions for further research could involve consideration of deep breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, or myofunctional therapy to help abate symptoms.

Taming Big Data

Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter provide an unprecedented amount of qualitative data about organizations and collective behavior. Yet these new data sources lack critical information about the broader social context of collective behavior—or protect it behind strict privacy barriers. In this article, I introduce social media survey apps (SMSAs) that adjoin computational social science methods with conventional survey techniques in order to enable more comprehensive analysis of collective behavior online. SMSAs (1) request large amounts of public and non-public data from organizations that maintain social media pages, (2) survey these organizations to collect additional data of interest to a researcher, and (3) return the results of a scholarly analysis back to these organizations as incentive for them to participate in social science research. SMSAs thus provide a highly efficient, cost-effective, and secure method for extracting detailed data from very large samples of organizations that use social media sites. This article describes how to design and implement SMSAs and discusses an application of this new method to study how nonprofit organizations attract public attention to their cause on Facebook. I conclude by evaluating the quality of the sample derived from this application of SMSAs and discussing the potential of this new method to study non-organizational populations on social media sites as well.

A Global Social Media Survey of Attitudes to Human Genome Editing

Ongoing breakthroughs with CRISPR/Cas-based editing could potentially revolutionize modern medicine, but there are many questions to resolve about the ethical implications for its therapeutic application. We conducted a worldwide online survey of over 12,000 people recruited via social media to gauge attitudes toward this technology and discuss our findings here.

Development and validation of a social media and science learning survey

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to describe the development and validation of a survey that examines science students’ social media learning behaviours. Inherent in critiques regarding ‘digital natives’ is a need to better understand what the current generation of learners actually do in their social media practices for learning. The survey can help us understand how students actually use social media for learning science. Survey development followed an inductive approach [Brinkman, 2013. Qualitative interviewing. Oxford ebook; Mansourian, 2006. Adoption of grounded theory in LIS research. New Library World, 107(9/10), 386–402; Strauss & Corbin, 1998. Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and technique (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage], where survey design was informed by results of focus groups with secondary and post-secondary physics students and the survey was iteratively revised after two cycles of administration and validation interviews. The final version of the Social Media and Science Learning Survey can be used by educators and researchers to understand how social media tools can be leveraged in order to allow learning to emerge and to use this knowledge to frame recommendations and methods for integrating these tools into classroom-based environments.

English

This paper dealt with the importance of social media in engaging young people on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention. The data used in this study, was obtained through a social media survey conducted among young unmarried tertiary graduates between the ages of 15 to 35 who are working in Abuja Nigeria and activities of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) on Facebook from 9 August, 2010 to 30 April, 2014. Respondents were made up of 42.6% males and 57.4% females. The predominant age group is between 26 and 30 (49%). Facebook was the most popular social media site as indicated by respondents. Out of 48% of the respondents who indicated they had sex within the last three months, only 38% claimed to have used condoms and 20% respondents have never had a HIV test. As at 30 April, 2014, NACA Facebook page amassed 2,593 likes. Males were predominant (80%) and 2,404 of the fans are from Nigeria. NACA sponsored competition for youth aged 18 to 29 years on the development of HIV prevention posters attracted a good amount of attention. The winning poster attracted 242 likes and 187 comments and the first runner up got 243 likes and 93 comments. The use of social media networking services to engage young people is recommended to organisations engaged in HIV and other related infections. Key words: Social media, HIV/AIDS, HIV prevention, young people, Nigeria.

Taming Big Data: Using App Technology to Survey Social Media Users

Social media websites have inspired considerable attention from social scientists in recent years because they offer the potential to collect an unprecedented amount of data about social relationships in situ. Though millions of lines of texts can be mined from such sites in seconds, these data lack critical information about the broader social context of social media users and their online activity. In this article, I introduce Social Media Survey Apps (SMSAs) to address these limitations. These new tools 1) extract large amounts of data about social media users; 2) survey these users to collect additional data required by a researcher; and, 3) return the results of a scholarly analysis — or financial compensation — back to the user to incentivize participation in social science research. SMSAs thus provide an efficient, cost-effective, safe, and easily scalable tool for systematically extracting highly detailed data from very large samples of social media users. This article describes the software engineering and internet infrastructure necessary to create an SMSA and provides an illustration of this new technology as part of a study of how non-profit organizations attract public attention on Facebook. I conclude with a discussion of the logistical and legal issues that may arise in the implementation of this new methodology and suggest directions for SMSAs on Facebook and other social media sites.

Using Social Media in an Open Distance Learning Teaching Practice Course

Using social media to support educational endeavors leverages the benefits of in-person learning communities with the benefits of using technology to support student engagement. This paper explores the use of social media to support economics education student teachers’ engagement in teaching practice at an open distance learning institution. Only sixty nine student teachers (n=369) registered for the SDEC00N blog (subject didactics economics), which was a pilot study to use blogging as an educational tool to support them during teaching practice placements for the following academic year. Only Economics education students were invited by e-mail message, blog and discussion forum as announcements on myUnisa webpage to complete an online social media survey (SMS). The intent of this research was to provide some insight into the impact the use of social media can have on the level of student teachers engagement in their learning. The findings indicated that there was a positive correlation between the frequency of student use of social media and their relationship with their peers and instructors as well as how they describe the overall quality of instruction and the preservice teaching practice programme. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p370