Conducting primary care research using social media

Social media offers great potential in primary care research. Online platforms can be used to conduct experimental studies, facilitating the recruitment and retention of participants, as well as the delivery of the intervention. As patients are increasingly able to use information technology to help make informed decisions about their health care, reports show that the use of social media for health-information seeking is not limited to the younger demographics anymore. Notably, patients seem to be willing to share their health data in communities of peers, such as PatientsLikeMe, and actively engage with researchers. Additionally, publicly available social media data can be used for secondary analysis purposes, potentially contributing to the monitoring of health topics and disease surveillance. Finally, social media tools can be used to streamline the management of research projects and facilitate team collaboration.