Comparative Quality Analysis of Bullous Pemphigoid Information Across Six Social Media Platforms

TL;DR

This study compares the quality of information about bullous pemphigoid on six social media platforms, finding that X provides the most reliable content while TikTok offers the least.

Contribution

The study introduces a comparative analysis of health information quality on multiple social media platforms using standardized evaluation tools.

Findings

X had the highest reliability with mean QUEST and DISCERN scores of 16.8 and 28.9, respectively.

TikTok had the lowest reliability with mean QUEST and DISCERN scores of 9.0 and 20.1, respectively.

Educational content was most common on YouTube and Threads, while TikTok featured more patient experience content.

Abstract

Social media has changed the digital health landscape, altering how the public consumes medical information and sparking concerns about the reliability of medical information. This study aims to assess the quality of online health information related to bullous pemphigoid by evaluating content type, information reliability, and user engagement across different social media platforms, using the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST) and Discerning the Quality of Written Consumer Health Information (DISCERN) questionnaires, quantitative tools designed to measure health information quality. Among the six social media platforms analyzed, educational content was most prevalent on YouTube (Google LLC, Mountain View, California, United States) (90.0%, n=10) and Threads (Meta Platforms, Inc., Menlo Park, California, United States) (100.0%, n=3), while TikTok (ByteDance Ltd., Beijing, China) (n=20) featured 60.0% educational and 30.0% patient experience content. X (X Corp., Bastrop, Texas, United States) (n=18) demonstrated the highest reliability, with a mean QUEST score of 16.8 (SD: 4.5) and a mean DISCERN score of 28.9 (SD: 6.7). In contrast, TikTok had the lowest reliability, with a mean QUEST score of 9.0 (SD: 3.0) and a mean DISCERN score of 20.1 (SD: 3.0). Dunn’s test with Bonferroni correction revealed that TikTok scored significantly lower than X in both QUEST (Mean Difference: -7.83, p < 0.0001) and DISCERN scores (Mean Difference: -8.83, p <0.001). Instagram (n=9) outperformed TikTok in QUEST scores (Mean Difference: 6.66, p <0.001. These findings indicate that X offers the most reliable health information, whereas TikTok consistently ranks lower in reliability.

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