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ABSTRACT As people increasingly turn to social media to access and create health evidence, the greater availability of data and information ought to help more people make evidence-informed health decisions that align with what matters to them. However, questions remain as to whether people can be swayed in favor of or against options by polarized social media, particularly in the case of controversial topics. We created a composite mock news article about home birth from six real news articles and randomly assigned participants in an online study to view comments posted about the original six articles. We found that exposure to one-sided social media comments with one-sided opinions influenced participants' opinions of the health topic regardless of their reported level of previous knowledge, especially when comments contained personal stories. Comments representing a breadth of views did not influence opinions, which suggests that while exposure to one-sided comments may bias opinions, exposure to balanced comments may avoid such bias.
Social media offers many advantages to people seeking evidence relevant to their or their family's health. Since electronic mailing lists began, individuals have been connecting with each other to share support and information about their health.1 Although the quality of online health information has been repeatedly called into question,2,3 this shiftaway from health professionals and health care organizations as the sole gatekeepers of evidence is arguably a positive development.4 Information seeking and sharing are important for people to be engaged in their own health.
Social media-defined in this article as the various platforms and features that facilitate community interaction online5-offers avenues for people to find and contribute information, social support, critical safety data, and genuine empowerment.6-10 Sixty-five percent of US adults now use social networking sites,11 and-perhaps as a result-health care professionals and organizations recognize the need to engage with members of the public online.5,12 However, there is little empirical evidence about the potential effects of the use of social media on people's opinions of health topics and their intentions regarding decisions related to such topics.
Background
The way in which people evaluate and contribute to health data and evidence is changing because of new patterns of seeking and using health information and interacting with others.13 People influence each other through establishing social norms online, which...