Abstract B06: Social media and colorectal cancer communication: The reach of Facebook Live and Twitter chat in Utah
Authors: Morales Jennyffer , Harding Garrett , Decker Janae , Anderson Lisa , Geisler Alyssa , Ostler Jane , Branson Donna , Yancey Jeff , Lopez Ana Maria 
Published: February 2019

Background/Purpose: The purpose is to demonstrate the reach of social media in cancer communication to urban and rural populations in Utah. Online communications, tools, and aids offer easy, cost-effective ways to reach a large number of people across geographic distances. In 2008, 79% of U.S. adults were online and 80% of online adults were searching for health information. Social media provide an ideal platform to communicate and educate large audiences across vast geographic areas such as Utah, which is defined as either rural (&lt;100 person/sq. mile) or frontier (&lt;7 persons/sq. mile). The wide accessibility of the Internet at home and on mobile devices has allowed social media to become well established across sociodemographic groups. Previous studies have found that the use of social media has been effective in increasing knowledge in individuals reached by the media. In 2015, a community health educator (CHE) at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) was tasked to expand cancer prevention education into rural areas of Utah. The CHE led the design, implementation, and analysis of the community health needs assessment (CHNA). Participant responses in the CHNA regarding preferences for health education and educational mediums indicated that rural communities prefer in-person presentations and tele-education through widely used online applications. Thus, a social media educational component was developed and implemented to connect more Utah residents with reliable health information from an accredited source.

Methods/Results: The CHE collaborated with HCI's social media team to conduct a Twitter chat and a Facebook Live event with the goal of increasing the reach of reliable and accurate cancer communication across the state of Utah. Twitter chats comprise individuals, representing themselves or an organization, who meet at a prearranged chat time to discuss a specific topic and use a unique hashtag to link public conversations. The HCI chat focused on the NCI Screen to Save (S2S) initiative aimed at starting conversations and raising awareness about colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings in targeted populations. In Utah CRC screening rates in rural and frontier areas are lower compared to the state (68.3%) and national averages (65.7%). The chat had participation from physicians, researchers, and local and national cancer organizations. The Twitter chat reached 12,244 people--4 times the average daily reach--showing a sharp increase of online engagement. Facebook Live events are live video streams that populate the newsfeed of followers, offering opportunities for direct online discussion and participation. Individuals may access the video during live steaming or at a later time. The HCI Facebook Live focused on cancer health equity, S2S, prevention efforts, and community resources. HCI's Director of Cancer Healthy Equity, a medical oncologist, led the 1-hour discussion with participation from HCI's Community Outreach Manager and questions from the Facebook community. The event reached 4,902 people and had 1,568 views, a significant rise of online engagement.

Conclusion: Using social media can be an effective way to broaden the reach of cancer communication to urban and rural populations. Social media utilization can provide urban and rural populations with accurate information from a credible source (an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center) in their preferred learning medium and on their own time. Considering the number of individuals reached and hours associated with social media cancer communications, cancer educators can utilize social media communication as cost-effective educational methods. Further research is needed to determine which social media platform has the greatest reach in rural populations, how to better target rural populations with social media communications, and the effectiveness of social media on educating individuals.

Citation Format: Jennyffer Morales, Garrett Harding, Janae Decker, Lisa Anderson, Alyssa Geisler, Jane Ostler, Donna Branson, Jeff Yancey, Ana Maria Lopez. Social media and colorectal cancer communication: The reach of Facebook Live and Twitter chat in Utah [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr B06.