Who tweets about cancer? An analysis of cancer-related tweets in the USA

Abstract

Cancer patients, family members and friends are increasingly using social media. Some oncologists and oncology centres are engaging with social media, and advocacy groups are using it to disseminate information and coordinate fundraising efforts. However, the question of whether such social media activity corresponds to areas with higher incidence of cancer or higher access to cancer centres remains understudied. To address this gap, our study compared US government data with 90,986 cancer-related tweets with the keywords ‘chemo’, ‘lymphoma’, ‘mammogram’, ‘melanoma’, and ‘cancer survivor’. We found that the frequency of cancer-related tweets is not associated with mammogram testing and cancer incidence rates, but that the concentration of doctors and cancer centres is associated with cancer-related tweet frequency. Ultimately, we found that Twitter has value to cancer patients, survivors and their families, but that cancer-related social media resources may not be targeting locations that could see the most value and benefit. Therefore, there are real opportunities to better align cancer-related engagement on Twitter and other social media.