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With 82% of young people using social media for health information, it’s increasingly important for health professionals to cut through online misinformation with reliable and appealing social media health communication for young people.
The public’s reliance on online sources like social media for health information is increasingly risky in the age of misinformation and misleading health claims from unreliable sources. To reduce these risks, the US Surgeon General recommends that health professionals join the effort to combat online misinformation using these three steps: (1) engage and educate patients and the public; (2) use social media platforms to share accurate health information with the public; and (3) partner with community groups and other organisation to prevent and address misinformation.
In particular, health professionals can use social media to reach groups, like young people, who rarely engage with other official health communication channels but are very active on social media.
Compared to previous generations, young people today are more likely to use the internet and social media for health information, with the 2024 Australian Youth Digital Index finding that 82% of young people aged 14 to 24 years report using online sources for health information. Despite their frequent use, young people report difficulty finding credible health information online and often overestimate their digital health information appraisal skills. This may leave them vulnerable to the large volume of health misinformation that proliferates on social media platforms. Thus, there is a need for health professionals and public health agencies to “meet young people where they are at” and share reliable and appealing health communication with this group on this popular medium. However, there is a general lack of engaging, official health communication for young people, especially on platforms young people use most.
Best practice recommendations for communicating with young people
To improve this communication, we co-designed five recommendations for sharing social media health information with young people.
The co-design process was conducted over three workshops with young people aged 18 to 24 years and professional health communicators at Australian health departments.
This project also partnered with three youth co-researchers (including one young influencer with 67 000 followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube) who facilitated the workshops and analysed the data with the team to ensure findings remained youth-centred beyond the workshops.
Recommendation 1: Involve young people
Even though young people want health information from a reliable source like a health professional or public health agency, they want messages to be delivered by their peers, in a style that is appealing to them.
This can be done by collaborating with a young person to deliver your message or receiving regular input from young people on the content you are sharing on social media.
For example: this TikTok by NSW Health was popular with young people in our workshops, as it featured a “regular” young person they could relate to using an authentic and youthful tone.
Recommendation 2: Pitch at the right level
Consider young people’s social contexts and health literacy needs when sharing health information with them.
Social media messages need to be simple, relevant and include easy calls to action with recognisable steps that young people can follow.
For example: this Instagram post by Queensland Health was identified by young people in our workshops as having simple language, and compelling calls to action.
Recommendation 3: Capture attention fast
Young people only spend a few seconds on a post when they’re on social media before moving on. Therefore, health information should use a hook and a strong visual to capture attention fast, before delivering the message elsewhere in the post and linking to further information.
For example: this Instagram post by SA Health was popular with the young people in our workshops due to its eye-catching design and minimal text, which encouraged them to seek more information in the caption and linked website.
Recommendation 4: Use current social media marketing techniques
Young people expect engaging and trending content on social media, even from health professionals and public health agencies.
This can be achieved by collaborating with popular influencers to share health information or packaging health messages in humour, memes and social media trends popular with young people. But you need to ensure the content is created by someone young or very familiar with the trend, to avoid coming across as “cringeworthy” to the younger audience. “Millennial humour”, like outdated Simpsons references, will not work for this group.
For example: this TikTok by Dr Idz was identified as being on-trend as it covers a viral topic, using popular platform features that young people use like “stitching” and “greenscreen”. This Instagram with Marco Varone and Vic DoH is an example of collaborating with a non-health professional influencer to reach a young and highly engaged audience.
Recommendation 5: Engage more with the public
Young people want to see health professionals and organisations engage with the public and have two-way conversations on social media.
This includes responding to comments, direct messages and creating opportunities for questions and answers (eg, through the platform features such as Polls and Q&As on Instagram Stories).
For example: this style of Instagram post by Queensland Health using a “street interview/vox pop” format was identified by young people as an effective way to engage with the public, blending online and offline community interaction.
As trusted health communicators, health professionals can integrate these strategies in their social media communication to reduce the health literacy demands of reliable health information, and help counter the misinformation young people are exposed to online.
Associate Professor Carissa Bonner is a behavioural scientist at the University of Sydney, Heart Foundation Future Fellow, deputy director of the Sydney Health Literacy Lab, and chief editor of Health Literacy & Communication Open. She is a scientific advisor on the draft National Health Literacy Strategy, an action under the Preventive Health Strategy for Australia.
Melody Taba is an experienced youth health researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. Her PhD involves co-designing a framework for using social media to communicate health messages to young people in the community to meet health literacy needs during health emergencies.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The statements or opinions expressed in this article reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy of the AMA, the MJA or InSight+ unless so stated.
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