The development of a smart health awareness message framework based on the use of social media: Quantitative study

Abstract

Background: Social media has recently provided a remarkable means of delivering health information broadly and in a cost-effective way. Despite its benefits, some difficulties are encountered in attempting to influence the public to change their behavior in response to social media health messages. Objective: This study aimed to explore the factors that affect individuals' acceptance of using social media as a tool for receiving health awareness messages and adapting such content accordingly by developing a smart health awareness message framework. Methods: A quantitative method was adapted to validate the hypotheses and proposed framework through the development of a survey based on the technology acceptance model with the extension of other constructs. The survey was distributed on the web to 701 participants from different countries via Qualtrics software; it generated 391 completed questionnaires, and the response rate was 55.8% (391/701). Results: Of the 391 respondents, 121 (30.9%) used social media platforms often during the week, and 27 participants (6.9%) did not use social media. In addition, 24.0% (94/391) of the respondents used these platforms to seek health information. On the basis of the results, perceived usefulness (β=.37; P