General Medicine · Medical Literature
Use of Social Media for Health Information Among US Adults
Abstract
This survey study examines health information–related engagement with social media among US adults with and without chronic conditions and by various sociodemographic characteristics.
Clinical relevance
This nationally representative survey addresses a critical gap in understanding how US adults—particularly those with chronic conditions—engage with health information on social media, a channel that now reaches an estimated 228 million adults. The study is clinically urgent because social media increasingly functions as a de facto health information source outside the traditional clinician-patient relationship, with real-world consequences for medical decision-making. Given the proliferation of AI-generated health content and the documented absence of editorial oversight on these platforms, clinicians across all specialties need to understand the scope and nature of their patients' social media health engagement.
Key findings
1. Social media use was reported by 87.8% of the 7,278 HINTS 2024 respondents, representing an estimated 228 million US adults (out of a represented population of ~262 million). 2. Among social media users, 84.8% reported sharing personal or general health information on these platforms, indicating high bidirectional engagement—not merely passive consumption. 3. Participation in online health communities was reported by 70.2% of social media users, underscoring the scale of peer-to-peer health information exchange. 4. Approximately 1 in 5 social media users (21.6%) reported making health-related decisions based on information encountered on social media, with this behavior disproportionately prevalent among adults older than 65 and Hispanic individuals. 5. Despite widespread engagement, 77.7% of respondents considered health information on social media to be false or misleading—revealing a significant belief-behavior paradox. 6. Chronic conditions were present in 69.1% of respondents (n=4,590); while 85.5% of these individuals used social media, they were significantly less likely to share health information compared with those without chronic conditions (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.46–0.79).
Practice implications
Clinicians should routinely assess whether patients—especially those aged 65 and older, Hispanic patients, and those with chronic conditions—are using social media to inform health decisions, and should proactively address encountered misinformation during clinical encounters rather than waiting for patients to raise it. The finding that 21.6% of users make social media-driven health decisions warrants integration of targeted health literacy counseling and redirection to vetted information sources (e.g., CDC, NIH, condition-specific patient advocacy organizations) as a standard component of chronic disease management. Health systems and specialty societies should consider developing authoritative, platform-native social media content to reduce the information vacuum that misinformation fills, particularly for high-engagement populations.