JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Australian males are three times more likely to die by suicide than their female counterparts. The traditional masculine norm of self-reliance is linked to suicidality in men. Suicide prevention media campaigns directed at males may be helpful in raising awareness of this issue by promoting conversations.

Objective:

We aimed to explore the themes of discussion prompted by the Boys Do Cry campaign on Twitter.

Methods:

We used Twitter data derived from the Twitter Application Programming Interface to investigate the reach and engagement of the Boys Do Cry campaign, including analyzing the characteristics of campaign-related tweets with the most and least reach. We analyzed tweeting patterns related to Boys Do Cry over the course of the campaign period and the immediate post-campaign period. In addition, we qualitatively analyzed the content of Boys Do Cry related tweets over the campaign period.

Results:

During the campaign, Twitter users saw and engaged with the Boys Do Cry campaign tweets 140,650 times and 4,477 times, respectively. The highest-performing tweet posted by the campaign was one that included the campaign’s core video embedded in the tweet. In addition, the pattern of Twitter activity for campaign-related tweets was considerably higher during the campaign than in the post-campaign period, with half of the campaign-related tweets posted during the first half of the campaign. Our findings also showed consistent support and amplification of the campaign message over the duration of the campaign period.

Conclusions:

This study offers insights into designing suicide prevention media campaigns targeting boys and men. The Boys Do Cry campaign had good reach and engagement and promoted discussions on Twitter about masculinity and suicide. However, a longer, more intensive campaign may be needed in order to amplify and sustain these effects.