THE CONTENT OF TWITTER MESSAGES OF DIFFERENT HEALTH GROUPS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN HEALTH

Year 2019, , 228 - 236, 29.12.2019

Birke Bulu Fedayi Yağar , Büşra Kopmaz , Nur Şişman Kitapçı , Okan Cem Kitapçı , Pınar Kılıç Aksu Leyla Köksal Gonca Mumcu

https://doi.org/10.31201/ijhmt.644197

Abstract

Twitter is
a popular and widely-used social media tool, which is used to promote corporate
branding in healthcare services. The aim of this study was to examine the
content of Twitter messages shared by different health groups. In this cross-sectional study, three private
health groups (Group A, Group B and Group C) were selected. Their twitter
messages were examined through the content of tweets and retweets as well as
types of sharing. When the content of the tweets was examined, the highest rates
were seen in tweets with photos and tweets with texts; whereas, tweets
containing videos and GIF’s seemed to be relatively less preferred. When the
total number of tweets of the study group were evaluated , most of them were
observed to include information related to a healthy life and diseases in the
health groups (Group A: 94,1%, Group B: 96,4% and Group C: 94,7%). Most shares
contained information about “check-up and preventive medicine” as well as
“nutrition and dietary” habits. The
selected health groups use Twitter as a social media tool to communicate with
patients and the public. A healthy life was the most prominent issue in the
Twitter messages of these groups.

Keywords

Twitter, Social Media, Private Health Group

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