Challenges, alternatives, and paths to sustainability: better public health promotion using social networking pages as key tools

J Med Syst. 2015 Feb;39(2):7. doi: 10.1007/s10916-015-0201-y. Epub 2015 Jan 29.

Abstract

This paper discusses the possibility of promoting public health and implementing educational health services using Facebook. We discuss the challenges and strengths of using such a platform as a tool for public health care systems from two different perspectives, namely, the view of IT developers and that of physicians. We present a new way of evaluating user interactivity in health care systems from tools provided by Facebook that measure statistical traffic in the Internet. Findings show that Facebook is a very promising tool in promoting e-health services in Web 2.0. Results from statistical traffic show that a Facebook page is more efficient than other pages in promoting public health.

MeSH terms

  • Communication
  • Confidentiality
  • Financing, Organized
  • Health Education / methods*
  • Health Promotion / methods*
  • Humans
  • Internet*
  • Language
  • Public Health
  • Social Media / organization & administration*
  • Social Networking*
  • User-Computer Interface