The development and evaluation of a social media-based HIV knowledge dissemination platform in China

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to introduce the development of a social media-based HIV knowledge dissemination platform and evaluate its dissemination effects, users’ feedback, and preferences. METHODS: A social media-based HIV knowledge dissemination platform (“Lihui Space”) was developed as a WeChat Official Account (WOA) to disseminate HIV-related information and knowledge to the public and answer subscribers’ questions. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 784 platform subscribers between July 2021 and September 2021 to evaluate users’ experiences with and preferences for the platform. This platform included three content levels about HIV-related information and knowledge: individual level (health self-management), community level (social function), and society level (news and policy), and dissemination information through texts, pictures, videos, and websites. A descriptive analysis was conducted to estimate the dissemination effects of the platform and evaluation scores. RESULTS: As of September 16, 2021, this platform’s WeChat Communication Index (WCI) score was 923.60, the total number of users was 100,008, and the total views in one month was more than 724,000. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with this platform in terms of overall evaluation (23.36 ± 3.06), readability (18.46 ± 2.63), function evaluation (13.93 ± 1.92), design and structure (22.96 ± 3.36), and interactivity (12.56 ± 2.69). CONCLUSION: This social media-based platform is currently available in the WeChat application. It is a promising tool for HIV knowledge dissemination and addressing disparities in accessing health care resources.