Social Media Use among Health Education Specialists: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which health educators in variousworkplace settings utilize social media for professional uses, and to determine what those uses are. A crosssectional survey study design was utilized. Logistic regression found workplace setting to be a significantvariable, and odds ratios revealed certain settings were more likely to use social media. Facebook was themost used form by all workplace settings except university faculty (LinkedIn was most used). The mostfrequently reported purpose for was increasing awareness about health issues. While there are drawbacks tousing social media, it is being utilized within the field and can assist health education specialists in manyways, including capturing new audiences and reaching program objectives.