背景:社交媒体可能是研究中心传递健康信息的有用方法,提高他们在当地社区的知名度,招募研究参与者。分享基于社交媒体的社区外展和教育计划的例子,并在这种情况下评估他们的结果,对于了解这些努力是否具有可衡量的影响很重要。
目的:本研究的目的是描述一个中心的社交媒体活动,用于社区教育与老龄化有关的主题,记忆丧失,阿尔茨海默病和相关痴呆,并提供与招募临床研究相关的指标。
方法:使用了几个社交媒体平台,包括Facebook,X(以前的Twitter),和YouTube。每月量化的客观评估,基于每个平台的本机仪表板,包括追随者的数量,帖子数量,后接触和参与,帖子印象,和视频视图。在此期间自愿参加研究的参与者数量还使用安全数据库进行了跟踪。在社交媒体上发布的教育材料最常见的内容是中心工作人员开发的内容,来自合作伙伴组织的内容,以及中心研究人员的新闻文章或资源。制定了多个教育计划,包括社交媒体系列,基于网络的会谈,Twitter聊天,和网络研讨会。近年来,Facebook内容偶尔会增加,以提高在当地地理区域的知名度。
结果:长达4年的页面指标表明,在社交媒体受众群体中的持续增长,正如Facebook和X/Twitter上的喜欢或关注者数量随着时间的推移而增加以及YouTube视频的观看次数(增长轨迹)所表明的那样。虽然Facebook的影响力和X/Twitter的印象率是合理的,Facebook的参与度更为温和。包括Facebook帖子增加在内的几个月导致页面关注者和页面喜欢的变化更大,和更高的到达率和参与率(所有P≤0.002)。在此期间,中心附属研究研究的参与者人数有所增加,特别是对Facebook帖子增加的回应。
结论:这些数据表明,社交媒体活动可以提供针对阿尔茨海默病和相关痴呆症的有意义的社区教育机会,并对招募参与者进行研究具有可衡量的影响。此外,这项研究强调了跟踪外展计划结果对评估投资回报的重要性.
BACKGROUND: Social media may be a useful method for research centers to deliver health messages, increase their visibility in the local community, and recruit study participants. Sharing examples of social media-based community
outreach and educational programs, and evaluating their outcomes in this setting, is important for understanding whether these efforts have a measurable impact.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to describe one center\'s social media activities for community education on topics related to aging, memory loss, and Alzheimer disease and related dementias, and provide metrics related to recruitment into clinical research studies.
METHODS: Several social media platforms were used, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube. Objective assessments quantified monthly, based on each platform\'s native dashboard, included the number of followers, number of posts, post reach and engagement, post impressions, and video views. The number of participants volunteering for research during this period was additionally tracked using a secure database. Educational material posted to social media most frequently included content developed by center staff, content from partner organizations, and news articles or resources featuring center researchers. Multiple educational programs were developed, including social media series, web-based talks, Twitter chats, and webinars. In more recent years, Facebook content was occasionally boosted to increase visibility in the local geographical region.
RESULTS: Up to 4 years of page metrics demonstrated continuing growth in reaching social media audiences, as indicated by increases over time in the numbers of likes or followers on Facebook and X/Twitter and views of YouTube videos (growth trajectories). While Facebook reach and X/Twitter impression rates were reasonable, Facebook engagement rates were more modest. Months that included boosted Facebook posts resulted in a greater change in page followers and page likes, and higher reach and engagement rates (all P≤.002). Recruitment of participants into center-affiliated research studies increased during this time frame, particularly in response to boosted Facebook posts.
CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that social media activities can provide meaningful community educational opportunities focused on Alzheimer disease and related dementias and have a measurable impact on the recruitment of participants into research studies. Additionally, this study highlights the importance of tracking
outreach program outcomes for evaluating return on investment.