A Systematic review of the validity of screening depression through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat

Jiin Kim; Zara A Uddin; Yena Lee; Flora Nasri; Hartej Gill; Mehala Subramanieapillai; Renna Lee; Aleksandra Udovica; Lee Phan; Leanna Lui; Michelle Iacobucci; Rodrigo B Mansur; Joshua D Rosenblat; Roger S McIntyre

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.091

A Systematic review of the validity of screening depression through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat

J Affect Disord. 2021 May 1:286:360-369. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.091. Epub 2021 Feb 8.

Affiliations

¹ Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, MP 9-325, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada.
² Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, MP 9-325, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, MP 9-325, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada; Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: roger.mcintyre@uhn.ca.

PMID: 33691948
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.091

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the validity of using social media for depression screening.

Method: Article searches on PubMed and PsycINFO from database inception to August 20, 2019 were completed with a search string and filters.

Results: 15 articles made the inclusion criteria. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles of depressed people were distinguishable from nondepressed people shown by social media markers. Facebook studies showed that having fewer Facebook friends and mutual friends, posting frequently, and using fewer location tags positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Also, Facebook posts with explicit expression of depressive symptoms, use of personal pronouns, and words related to pain, depressive symptoms, aggressive emotions, and rumination predicted depression. Twitter studies showed that the use of "past focus" words, negative emotions and anger words, and fewer words per Tweet positively correlated with depression. Finally, Instagram studies showed that differences in follower patterns, photo posting and editing, and linguistic features between depressed people and nondepressed people could serve as a marker.

Limitations: The primary articles analyzed had different methods, which constricts the amount of comparisons that can be made. Further, only four social media platforms were explored.

Conclusion: Social media markers like number and content of Facebook messages, linguistic variability in tweets and tweet word count on Twitter, and number of followers, frequency of Instagram use and the content of messages on Instagram differed between depressed people and nondepressed people. Therefore, screening social media profiles on these platforms could be a valid way to detect depression.

Keywords: Depression; Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA); Facebook; Instagram; Screening; Snapchat; Social media; Social media markers; Twitter; Virtual.

Publication types

Review
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Depression / diagnosis
Emotions
Friends
Humans
Linguistics
Social Media*