Curbing Misinformation by Spreading True Health Education Messages

This webinar is an extension of the 2nd Digital Health Promotion Executive Leadership Summit – a collaboration between SOPHE, the Milken Institute School of Public Health, the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the Public Good Projects.

According to the Pew Research Center, 95 percent of U.S. adults own a cellphone, making it the most quickly adopted consumer technology in history. Seven in 10 Americans use social media to connect with others, obtain news, share stores and entertainment. The digital media landscape shapes people’s awareness of health issues and perceptions about health-related behavioral norms. Unfortunately, social media spreads both accurate and inaccurate health education and health promotion messages, often prompting individuals to ignore public health messages that are critical for a healthy society. After an overview of the current social media landscape, we will discuss social media’s effect on vaccine hesitancy. Then we will discuss the contemporary phenomenon of misinformation, and how it spreads online.

Keywords: HESPA I, Area 6, Area 7, Communications, Health Messaging