JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Social media may be a useful method for research centers to deliver health messaging, increase their visibility in the local community, and recruit study participants. Sharing examples of social media-based community outreach and education programs, and evaluating their outcomes, is important for understanding whether these efforts have measurable impact.

Objective:

To evaluate the use of social media as a strategy for community education on topics related to aging, memory loss, and dementia, and for recruitment into clinical research studies.

Methods:

This study details the strategic goals of a social media outreach program pertaining to aging and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and the short-term longitudinal outcomes of this program, including growth trajectories and recruitment into ongoing research studies.

Results:

Four years of page metrics demonstrate continuing growth in reaching the target audience. Two years of tracking outcomes with a database demonstrate that social media outreach results in recruitment of participants into Center-affiliated research studies.

Conclusions:

These data indicate that social media activities have a measurable impact on both community education and recruitment of participants into research studies. Additionally, this study highlights the importance of tracking the success of outreach programs for evaluating return on investment.