How pharmacy’s adoption of social media can enhance patient outcomes

Figures & data

Table 1 Social media types, definitions, and examples

Type	Definition	Example	Health-related examples (not endorsed or recommended)
Blog	Online journal or diary, where authors share stories, opinions, or views	http://www.blogger.com http://www.tumblr.com http://www.wordpress.org	http://www.health.org.uk/blog http://healthvlivingblogs.com/location/uk/ http://www.patient.co.uk/blogs http://sharing.mavoclinic.org/
Microblog	Similar to a blog, but posts are much shorter and more contemporary	Twitter.com Tumblr.com http://www.foursquare.com	Almost all health organizations, bodies, and leaders will have a Twitter account http://www.moodmill.com http://www.googlehealth.com
Social networks	Online communities that share interests or activities, through profiles which link together	http://www.facebook.com http://www.google plus http://www.mvspace.com	http://www.patientslikeme.com/
Photo/video/file sharing sites	website that allows sharing of digital media	http://www.youtube.com http://www.flickr.com	Many organizations have specific channels on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/PatientU K http://www.youtube.com/user/kingsfund http://www.youtube.com/user/NHSChoices
Instant messaging/ contacts	website or app that allows easy instant calls/messages/photographs and location sharing to groups or individuals	http://www.whatsapp.com http://www.vibee.com http://www.kik.com http://www.snapchat.com
wiki	Website that allows user created and developed web pages on their chosen topic. Allows connectivity with a group	wikipedia	Many organizations will have wikipedia pages http://www.medikidz.com/medipedia/

Table 2 Summary of data on social media activity reported in 2013

Example of social media	Data on activity
Facebook	1.15 billion users 23% of Facebook users check their accounts more than five times a day 75% of possible engagement with a post gets it in the first 5 hours 25% of users do not use privacy settings
Twitter	Over 500 million users with 288 million active monthly 60% of users access it from mobile devices 400 million tweets per day Fastest growing age demographic is aged 55-64 years
Google Plus	Over 500 million users in the platform and 67% male 60% users log in everyday
LinkedIn	240 million users with 1.5 million groups 3 million businesses have pages 50% of users have a degree
YouTube	700 YouTube video links shared on Twitter every minute 500 years’ worth of YouTube videos watched on Facebook every day

Notes: Copyright © 2013. Digital Insights. Reproduced from Digital Insights. Social media facts, figures and statistics 2013. Available from: http://blog.digitalinsights.in/social-media-facts-and-statistics-2013/0560387.html.⁴

Table 3 Summary of proposed areas where social media could be used by pharmacy to improve health outcomes

Impact on provision of health information, delivery of public health interventions, and enhanced patient engagement

Impact on safer medicine use

Impact on management of chronic disease

Impact on dissemination and implementation of evidence-based medicine and guidelines

Impact on clinical research

Digital Insights. Social media facts, figures and statistics 2013. Available from: http://blog.digitalinsights.in/social-media-facts-and-statistics-2013/0560387.html. Accessed March 6, 2014.

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