JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Facebook, the most popular social media platform in the US is used by 239 million US adults which represents 71% of the population. Not only do most US adults use Facebook, the average users spends on average 40 minutes per day on the platform. Due to Facebook’s reach and ease of use, it is increasingly being used as a modality by which to deliver behavioral and health communication interventions. Typically, a Facebook-delivered intervention involves creating a private group to deliver intervention content for participants to engage with asynchronously. In some interventions a counselor is present and facilitates discussions and provides feedback and support. Studies of Facebook-delivered interventions have been conducted on a variety of topics and they vary widely in terms of the intervention content used in the group, use of human counselors, group size, engagement, and other characteristics. Results also vary widely and may depend on how well the intervention was executed and the degree to which it elicited engagement among participants. Best practices for adapting and/or designing behavioral intervention content for asynchronous delivery in Facebook groups are lacking, as are best practices for engaging participants via this modality. In this piece, we propose best practices for the use of private Facebook groups for delivery of behavioral and/or health communication interventions, including converting traditional intervention content into Facebook posts; creating protocols for onboarding, counseling, engagement, and data management; designing and branding intervention content; and using engagement data to optimize engagement and outcomes.