TY - JOUR
T1 - HPV vaccine searches on pinterest
T2 - Before and after pinterest's actions to moderate content
AU - Guidry, Jeanine P.D.
AU - Vraga, Emily K.
AU - Laestadius, Linnea I.
AU - Miller, Carrie A.
AU - Occa, Aurora
AU - Nan, Xiaoli
AU - Ming, Hannah M.
AU - Qin, Yan
AU - Fuemmeler, Bernard F.
AU - Carlyle, Kellie E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded in part by a National Cancer Institute T32 award (2T32CA093423) to C. A. Miller.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Public Health Association Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Objectives. To compare how human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was portrayed on Pinterest before and after the platform acted to moderate vaccine-related search results to understand (1) what the information environment looked like previously and (2) whether Pinterest's policy decisions improved this environment in terms of sources and content. Methods. In this quantitative content analysis, we compared 2 samples of 500 HPV vaccine-focused Pinterest posts (“pins”) collected before and after Pinterest's actions to provide more reliable vaccine-related information. Pins were based on search results and were analyzed using the Health Belief Model. Results. The majority of preaction search results leaned toward vaccine skepticism, specifically focused on perceived vaccine barriers. Few pins were published by public health-related Pinterest accounts. Postaction search results showed a significant shift to HPV vaccination benefits, and the number of pins by government or medical accounts increased. However, the proportion of pins in search results containing HPV content of any type was significantly lower. Conclusions. Pinterest's efforts to moderate vaccination discussions were largely successful. However, the ban also appeared to limit HPV vaccination search results overall, which may contribute to confusion or an information vacuum.
AB - Objectives. To compare how human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was portrayed on Pinterest before and after the platform acted to moderate vaccine-related search results to understand (1) what the information environment looked like previously and (2) whether Pinterest's policy decisions improved this environment in terms of sources and content. Methods. In this quantitative content analysis, we compared 2 samples of 500 HPV vaccine-focused Pinterest posts (“pins”) collected before and after Pinterest's actions to provide more reliable vaccine-related information. Pins were based on search results and were analyzed using the Health Belief Model. Results. The majority of preaction search results leaned toward vaccine skepticism, specifically focused on perceived vaccine barriers. Few pins were published by public health-related Pinterest accounts. Postaction search results showed a significant shift to HPV vaccination benefits, and the number of pins by government or medical accounts increased. However, the proportion of pins in search results containing HPV content of any type was significantly lower. Conclusions. Pinterest's efforts to moderate vaccination discussions were largely successful. However, the ban also appeared to limit HPV vaccination search results overall, which may contribute to confusion or an information vacuum.
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U2 - 10.2105/AJPH.2020.305827
DO - 10.2105/AJPH.2020.305827
M3 - Article
C2 - 33001720
AN - SCOPUS:85092529671
SN - 0090-0036
VL - 110
SP - S305-S311
JO - American journal of public health
JF - American journal of public health
ER -