JMIR Infodemiology

Cyber victimization exposes individuals to numerous risks. Developmental and psychological factors may leave some users unaware of the potential dangers, increasing their susceptibility to psychological distress. Despite this vulnerability, methods for identifying those at risk of cyber victimization within healthcare settings are limited, as is research that explores their experiences of cyber victimization. The purpose of this study was to analyze how users describe experiences of cyber victimization on the social media platform Reddit using data mining.

By increasing exposure to drug-related advertisements, the illicit digital drug trade promotes drug normalization and eases access to substances, increasing the likelihood of initiation. Social media platforms play an increasingly important role in facilitating the online substance trade by leveraging encrypted communications and user-friendly interfaces to advertise a large variety of readily available substances. Despite its growing importance, there is a paucity of research conducted in Thailand that aims to determine the types of substances, marketing strategies, and public health risks linked to drugs advertised on social media.

The internet and social media have been considered useful platforms for obtaining health information. However, critical and erroneous content about vaccines on social media has been associated with vaccination delays and refusal.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health issue heavily influenced by human behaviour. Effective communication and awareness-raising are crucial in curbing AMR, with social network sites (SNSs) significantly shaping health behaviours. Despite their potential, current analyses of AMR on SNSs have focused mainly on top-down communication initiatives.

Prevalence of and spread of misinformation are a concern for the exacerbation of vaccine hesitancy and a resulting reduction in vaccine intent. However, few studies have focused on how vaccine misinformation diffuses online, who is responsible for the diffusion, and the mechanisms by which that happens. In addition, researchers have rarely investigated this in non-western contexts particularly vulnerable to misinformation.

Misinformation on social media during natural disasters has become a significant challenge, with the potential to increase public confusion, panic, and distrust. Although individuals rely on social media platforms for timely updates during crises, these platforms also facilitate the rapid spread of unverified and misleading information. Consequently, misinformation can hamper emergency response efforts, misdirect resources, and distort public perception of the disaster’s true severity.

User demographics are often hidden in social media data due to privacy concerns. However, demographic information on substance use (SU) can provide valuable insights, allowing public health policy makers to focus on specific cohorts and develop efficient prevention strategies, especially during global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity and use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) for weight loss. As such, it is essential to understand users’ real-world discussions of short-term, long-term, and co-occurrent adverse events associated with currently used GLP-1 RAs medications.

Stroke has become a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, resulting in a significant loss of healthy life years and imposing a considerable economic burden on patients and their families and caregivers. However, despite being an emerging source of information, the credibility and quality of online videos related to stroke prevention education, especially those in Chinese, remain unclear.

Abortion access in the United States has been in a state of rapid change and increasing restriction since the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision from the US Supreme Court in June 2022. With further constraints on access to abortion since Dobbs, the internet and online communities are playing an increasingly important role in people’s abortion trajectories. There is a need for a broader understanding of how online resources are used for abortion and how they may reflect changes in the sociopolitical and legal context of abortion access. Research using online information and leveraging methods to work efficiently with large textual datasets has the potential to accelerate knowledge generation and provide novel insights into changing abortion-related experiences following Dobbs, helping address these knowledge gaps.

Mental health organizations have the vital and difficult task of shaping public discourse and providing important information. Social media platforms such as X serve as such communication channels and analyzing organizational health information offers valuable insights into their guidance and linguistic patterns, which can enhance communication strategies for health campaigns and interventions. The findings inform strategies to enhance public engagement, trust, and the effectiveness of mental health messaging.

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 was accompanied by a rise in the popularity of conspiracy theories. These theories often undermined vaccination efforts. There is evidence that the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 is associated with online social media use. Online social media enables network effects that influence the dissemination of information. It is important to distinguish between the effects of using social media and the network effects that occur within the platform.