Cargando…

Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis

Using social media is one important strategy to communicate research and public health guidelines to the scientific community and general public. Empirical evidence about which communication strategies are effective around breastfeeding messaging is scarce. To fill this gap, we aimed to identify inf...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Moukarzel, Sara, Caduff, Anita, Rehm, Martin, del Fresno, Miguel, Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael, Daly, Alan J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230232/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34201000
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126181
_version_ 1783713159766343680
author Moukarzel, Sara
Caduff, Anita
Rehm, Martin
del Fresno, Miguel
Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
Daly, Alan J.
author_facet Moukarzel, Sara
Caduff, Anita
Rehm, Martin
del Fresno, Miguel
Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
Daly, Alan J.
author_sort Moukarzel, Sara
collection PubMed
description Using social media is one important strategy to communicate research and public health guidelines to the scientific community and general public. Empirical evidence about which communication strategies are effective around breastfeeding messaging is scarce. To fill this gap, we aimed to identify influencers in the largest available Twitter database using social network analysis (n = 10,694 users), inductively analyze tweets, and explore communication strategies, motivations, and challenges via semi-structured interviews. Influencers had diverse backgrounds within and beyond the scientific health community (SHC; 42.7%): 54.7% were from the general public and 3% were companies. SHC contributed to most of the tweets (n = 798 tweets), disseminating guidelines and research findings more frequently than others (p < 0.001). Influencers from the general community mostly tweeted opinions regarding the current state of breastfeeding research and advocacy. Interviewees provided practical strategies (e.g., preferred visuals, tone, and writing style) to achieve personal and societal goals including career opportunities, community support, and improved breastfeeding practices. Complex challenges that need to be addressed were identified. Ideological differences regarding infant feeding may be hampering constructive communication, including differences in influencers’ interpretation of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and in perspectives regarding which social media interactions encompass conflict of interest.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8230232
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82302322021-06-26 Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis Moukarzel, Sara Caduff, Anita Rehm, Martin del Fresno, Miguel Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael Daly, Alan J. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Using social media is one important strategy to communicate research and public health guidelines to the scientific community and general public. Empirical evidence about which communication strategies are effective around breastfeeding messaging is scarce. To fill this gap, we aimed to identify influencers in the largest available Twitter database using social network analysis (n = 10,694 users), inductively analyze tweets, and explore communication strategies, motivations, and challenges via semi-structured interviews. Influencers had diverse backgrounds within and beyond the scientific health community (SHC; 42.7%): 54.7% were from the general public and 3% were companies. SHC contributed to most of the tweets (n = 798 tweets), disseminating guidelines and research findings more frequently than others (p < 0.001). Influencers from the general community mostly tweeted opinions regarding the current state of breastfeeding research and advocacy. Interviewees provided practical strategies (e.g., preferred visuals, tone, and writing style) to achieve personal and societal goals including career opportunities, community support, and improved breastfeeding practices. Complex challenges that need to be addressed were identified. Ideological differences regarding infant feeding may be hampering constructive communication, including differences in influencers’ interpretation of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and in perspectives regarding which social media interactions encompass conflict of interest. MDPI 2021-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8230232/ /pubmed/34201000 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126181 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Moukarzel, Sara
Caduff, Anita
Rehm, Martin
del Fresno, Miguel
Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
Daly, Alan J.
Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis
title Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis
title_full Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis
title_fullStr Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis
title_short Breastfeeding Communication Strategies, Challenges and Opportunities in the Twitter-Verse: Perspectives of Influencers and Social Network Analysis
title_sort breastfeeding communication strategies, challenges and opportunities in the twitter-verse: perspectives of influencers and social network analysis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230232/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34201000
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126181
work_keys_str_mv AT moukarzelsara breastfeedingcommunicationstrategieschallengesandopportunitiesinthetwitterverseperspectivesofinfluencersandsocialnetworkanalysis
AT caduffanita breastfeedingcommunicationstrategieschallengesandopportunitiesinthetwitterverseperspectivesofinfluencersandsocialnetworkanalysis
AT rehmmartin breastfeedingcommunicationstrategieschallengesandopportunitiesinthetwitterverseperspectivesofinfluencersandsocialnetworkanalysis
AT delfresnomiguel breastfeedingcommunicationstrategieschallengesandopportunitiesinthetwitterverseperspectivesofinfluencersandsocialnetworkanalysis
AT perezescamillarafael breastfeedingcommunicationstrategieschallengesandopportunitiesinthetwitterverseperspectivesofinfluencersandsocialnetworkanalysis
AT dalyalanj breastfeedingcommunicationstrategieschallengesandopportunitiesinthetwitterverseperspectivesofinfluencersandsocialnetworkanalysis