By Young Adults, for Young Adults: A Participatory Approach to Co-Designing Social Media Strategies for Knowledge Mobilization and Engagement

Abstract

Social media is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for knowledge mobilization, activism, and advocacy—particularly for young adults who are often excluded from institutional research and decision-making. However, these platforms are not neutral; algorithmic biases, corporate interests, and structural barriers shape whose knowledge is amplified and whose is suppressed. This study examines the nuances of using social media for participatory, youth-led knowledge mobilization through the Valuing Opinions and Inspiring Change through Engagement (VOICE) Study, a youth-designed and youth-led initiative exploring social media engagement strategies to reach equity-deserving and hardly reached young adults in mental health advocacy. Using an iterative, co-created approach, the study employed both qualitative and quantitative analyses to examine engagement with different types of social media content. The findings reveal tensions between visibility and meaningful interaction: while reels expanded audience reach, they did not consistently foster engagement. Medium-relevance posts addressing relatable mental health topics sustained engagement, highlighting the need to balance reach with substantive impact. The study also considers digital inequities, as youth without stable internet access or those avoiding social media for privacy and well-being concerns remained excluded. Through a participatory and reflexive framework, this study challenges assumptions that social media inherently democratizes knowledge. It underscores the need for multi-modal strategies integrating online and offline engagement and calls for critical examination of corporate social media’s structural limitations in activist research.