Facebook & Health Information??!!

Earlier this week (Sunday, March 20, to be exact), the Dayton Business Journal reported on a study conducted by the National Research Corporation that found something a bit different in Americans' health information practices.  Apparently, the study surveyed 23,000 United States residents, and found that 41% of survey respondents used social media outlets to find health information, and that 93% of those people primarily used Facebook to find health information.

Although I was first shocked to read this, the rest of the article starts to make sense!  The article reports that patients use social networking sites (again, mainly Facebook) to view educational videos, get diet and exercise tips, learn about upcoming health events, and find health statistics.  The article highlights groups, like the American Cancer Society, WebMD, and the Centers for Disease Control, that use Facebook fan pages to disseminate health related information and news.

The article does mention that some medical professionals worry about inaccurate health information, but the biggest takeaway from the article for me is that legitimate healthcare groups and institutions--like the American Dietetic Association--need to start (or continue, as the case may be) thinking seriously about using social media outlets to reach patients and others with positive and accurate health-related information.

How do you use social media to find information?  Would you trust Facebook fan pages to deliver accurate information?  What do you think about the study's findings?  Read the full article here, and post your thoughts below!