Table 3.
Description and objectives of social media tools used (N=284)
| Objective—n (%) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tool | Total—n (%) | Health literacy | Clinical decision making | Self-care | Patient safety | Others |
| Total—n (%) | 47 (16.6) | 7 (2.5) | 219 (77.1) | 19 (6.7) | 39 (13.7) | |
| Collaborative project | 6 (2.1) | 5 (83.3) | – | – | – | 1 (16.7) |
| Blog or microblog | 40 (14.1) | 11 (27.5) | – | 24 (60.0) | 4 (10.0) | 9 (22.5) |
| Content community | 16 (5.6) | 8 (50.0) | – | 5 (31.3) | 2 (12.5) | 4 (25.0) |
| Social networking site | 42 (14.8) | 10 (23.8) | 1 (2.4) | 24 (57.1) | 8 (19.1) | 9 (21.4) |
| Virtual world | 6 (2.1) | 3 (50.0) | – | 3 (50.0) | 1 (16.7) | 1 (16.7) |
| Discussion forum | 189 (66.6) | 23 (12.2) | 6 (3.2) | 166 (87.8) | 3 (1.6) | 17 (9.0) |
| Component of a complex intervention | 116 (40.9) | 16 (13.8) | 3 (2.6) | 108 (93.1) | 4 (3.5) | 3 (2.6) |
Percentages do not add up to 100 due to the possibility of multiple tools and multiple objectives per study.