The Use of Social Media in Recruitment for Medical Research Studies: A Scoping Review | Topolovec-Vranic | Journal of Medical Internet Research

open access:
JMIR-The Use of Social Media in Recruitment for Medical Research Studies: A Scoping Review 
 

Conclusions

Given the rising cost of conducting health research, and increased competition for such funds in Canada, new and innovative methods to recruit study participants are needed. Leveraging the growing popularity of social media has the potential to enhance research recruitment methods. However, based on our scoping review of the literature, social media was found to be the best recruitment method in only 12 out of 30 (40%) studies assessed in terms of number of individuals recruited. Social media also tended to recruit younger individuals (when this information was reported). However, for hard-to-reach populations, for populations with specific conditions or disorders, and for observational studies, social media can potentially be the most effective recruitment strategy. Although many studies used social media in recruitment, only 30 studies have explicitly compared social media with other recruitment methods. Additionally, many of these studies did not measure demographics of the population recruited. Therefore, more studies need to be done in this area. These studies should not only measure how many participants can be recruited through each strategy, but also clearly report demographics and the cost-effectiveness of each strategy.