Harnessing social media for cancer prevention and early detection: Challenges, opportunities, and pathways to equity.

Abstract

9040 Background: Social media is a valuable tool for cancer prevention and early detection but faces challenges like gender disparities, misinformation, and minority underrepresentation. Women receive 28% fewer views and 41% less engagement than men, while most cancer screening content on YouTube and TikTok is low quality and contains misinformation. MedNews Week (MNW), a global education platform, addresses these issues by promoting accurate and inclusive digital health communication. This study assesses engagement and platform effectiveness to improve cancer communication strategies. Methods: A systematic review of 225 articles from PubMed, supplemented by MedNews Week (MNW) outreach data, was conducted to evaluate the role of social media in cancer prevention and early detection. Metrics analyzed included platform effectiveness, engagement trends, content themes, and challenges related to misinformation and representation. Results: Twitter, utilized in 57% of studies, was effective in facilitating cancer prevention discussions. Breast cancer dominated interventions at 52%, while colorectal and lung cancers were underrepresented. Content quality was a concern, with 98% of YouTube and 100% of TikTok videos on prostate cancer screening rated low to moderate. Additionally, 88% of YouTube and all TikTok videos contained moderate to high misinformation. Representation gaps showed African American and Hispanic populations featured in only 10% and 6% of YouTube videos, and 20% and 12% of TikTok videos. Discussions of high-risk groups appeared in 46% of YouTube but just 8% of TikTok videos. Promising misinformation detection methods included linguistic models analyzing Twitter posts, achieving a macro F1 score of 79.7 for predicting unreliable information. Conclusions: Social media has great potential to improve cancer awareness, prevention, and early detection but is hindered by misinformation, lack of inclusivity, and inconsistent content quality. Overcoming these challenges requires platform-specific strategies, collaboration with healthcare entities and influencers, and a focus on diverse representation. MNW’s efforts demonstrate the importance of providing reliable, inclusive health information to reduce disparities and promote equitable digital health communication. Metrics of social media engagement for cancer awareness and detection. Platform Primary Use Representation Gaps Content Quality Misinformation Levels Engagement Twitter Prevention N/A N/A N/A Effective YouTube Prostate cancer screening Black: 10%, Hispanic: 6% 98% low to moderate 88% moderate to high Limited TikTok Emerging platform Black: 20%, Hispanic: 12% 100% low to moderate 100% moderate to high Minimal LinkedIn Professional engagement N/A N/A N/A Gender parity Instagram Awareness N/A N/A N/A Effective