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. 2014 Nov 27;16(11):e264.
doi: 10.2196/jmir.3758.

Use of social media across US hospitals: descriptive analysis of adoption and utilization

Heather M Griffis  1 , Austin S Kilaru, Rachel M Werner, David A Asch, John C Hershey, Shawndra Hill, Yoonhee P Ha, Allison Sellers, Kevin Mahoney, Raina M Merchant
Affiliations

Use of social media across US hospitals: descriptive analysis of adoption and utilization

Heather M Griffis et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Use of social media has become widespread across the United States. Although businesses have invested in social media to engage consumers and promote products, less is known about the extent to which hospitals are using social media to interact with patients and promote health.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the relationship between hospital social media extent of adoption and utilization relative to hospital characteristics.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional review of hospital-related activity on 4 social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Foursquare. All US hospitals were included that reported complete data for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey. We reviewed hospital social media webpages to determine the extent of adoption relative to hospital characteristics, including geographic region, urban designation, bed size, ownership type, and teaching status. Social media utilization was estimated from user activity specific to each social media platform, including number of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Foursquare check-ins, and Yelp reviews.

Results: Adoption of social media varied across hospitals with 94.41% (3351/3371) having a Facebook page and 50.82% (1713/3371) having a Twitter account. A majority of hospitals had a Yelp page (99.14%, 3342/3371) and almost all hospitals had check-ins on Foursquare (99.41%, 3351/3371). Large, urban, private nonprofit, and teaching hospitals were more likely to have higher utilization of these accounts.

Conclusions: Although most hospitals adopted at least one social media platform, utilization of social media varied according to several hospital characteristics. This preliminary investigation of social media adoption and utilization among US hospitals provides the framework for future studies investigating the effect of social media on patient outcomes, including links between social media use and the quality of hospital care and services.

Keywords: Internet; health information; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of utilization of social media across US hospitals.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maps of social media utilization for hospitals adjusted by bed count.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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