Understanding how young African adults interact with peer-generated sexual health information on Facebook and uncovering strategies for successful organic engagement

BMC Public Health

Odimegwu Clifford¹  Emmanuel Olamijuwon²  Visseho Adjiwanou³ 

[1] Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;Department of Statistics and Demography, School of Social Science, University of Eswatini, Kwaluseni Campus, Kwaluseni, Eswatini;Population and Health Research Group, School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, Fife, UK;Department of Sociology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada;

关键词: Sexuality education;    Sexual health;    Adolescents;    Young adults;    Social media;    Facebook;    Content analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-12165-x

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe use of social media for sexual health communication is gaining intense discussion both globally and in Africa. Despite this reality, it remains unclear whether and how young African adults use digital innovations like social media to access sexual health information. More importantly, the unique properties of messages that increase message reach and propagation are not well understood. This study aims to fill the gaps in scholarship by identifying post features and content associated with greater user engagement.MethodsWe analyzed a corpus of 3533 sexual and reproductive health messages shared on a public Facebook group by and for young African adults between June 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019, to understand better the unique features associated with higher engagement with peer-generated sexual health education. Facebook posts were independently classified into thematic categories such as topic, strategy, and tone of communication.ResultsThe participants generally engaged with posts superficially by liking (x̃ = 54; x̄ = 109.28; σ = 159.24) rather than leaving comments (x̃ = 10; x̄ = 32.03; σ = 62.65) or sharing (x̃ = 3; x̄ = 11.34; σ = 55.12) the wallposts. Messages with fear [IRR:0.75, 95% CI: 0.66–0.86] or guilt [IRR:0.82, 95% CI: 0.72–0.92] appeals received a significantly lower number of reactions compared to neutral messages. Messages requesting an opinion [IRR:4.25, 95% CI: 3.57–5.10] had a significantly higher number of comments compared to status updates. The use of multimedia and storytelling formats were also significantly associated with a higher level of engagement and propagation of sexual health messages on the group.ConclusionYoung adults in our sample tend to superficially interact with peer-communicated sexual health information through likes than engage (comments) or propagate such messages. Message features that increase engagements and propagation of messages include multimedia and engaging styles like storytelling. Our findings provide valuable insight and pave the way for the design of effective and context-specific sexual health information use of features that attract young African adults.

【 授权许可】

CC BY