Characterizing HPV Vaccine Sentiments and Content on Instagram

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Media Research
• Vaccinology

Background:

• Instagram's popularity and user-friendly interface make it a key platform for understanding health behaviors and information exposure.
• The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a growing public health concern, necessitating research into its online discourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze public Instagram posts concerning the HPV vaccine.
• To determine the impact of post sentiment and context on user engagement (likes).

Main Methods:

• Collected 3,378 English-language posts using #HPV, #HPVVaccine, and #Gardasil.
• Content analyzed a random sample of 1,200 posts, with 360 included in the final analysis.
• Utilized Netlytic for data collection and analysis.

Main Results:

• Pro-vaccine posts (55.8%) were more common than anti-vaccine posts (42.2%).
• Anti-vaccine posts received significantly more likes (86) than pro-vaccine posts (24).
• Most posts (63.9%) offered actionable information, but only 30% originated from health sources.

Conclusions:

• Anti-vaccine content on Instagram garners higher engagement and often contains misinformation.
• Pro-vaccine narratives lack depth compared to anti-vaccine narratives, which frequently feature personal stories.
• Opportunities exist for health organizations to increase HPV vaccine promotion through informational and narrative content on Instagram.