Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication

Social media brings a new dimension to health care, offering a platform used by the public, patients, and health professionals to communicate about health issues with the possibility of potentially improving health outcomes. Although there are benefits to using social media for health communication, the information needs to be monitored for quality and reliability, and the users’ confidentiality and privacy need to be maintained. Social media is a powerful tool that offers collaboration between users and a social interaction mechanism for a range of individuals. With increasing use of social media, there will be further opportunities in health care. Research into the application of social media for health communication purposes is an expanding area because increasing general use of social media necessitates that health communication researchers match the pace of development. Further robust research is required to establish whether social media improves health communication practices in both the short and long terms.

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