The Effect of Monetary Incentives on Health Care Social Media Content: Study Based on Topic Modeling and Sentiment...

Area of Science:

• Social Media
• Health Communication
• Incentive Systems

Background:

• Social media platforms often contain significant health misinformation, posing risks to public health.
• Developing methods to encourage high-quality health content is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of financial incentives on the creation of social media health care content.
• To compare health content quality on an incentive-based platform (Steemit) versus a traditional platform (Reddit).

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 8328 health posts from Steemit and 1682 from Reddit using machine learning.
• Evaluation of language style, topic similarity, and clickbait resemblance.
• A user survey (276 participants) to assess perceived post quality.

Main Results:

• Steemit posts exhibited more confident and analytical language, and were more joyful than Reddit posts.
• Steemit had more unique and informational topics compared to Reddit's discussion-oriented topics.
• Users rated Steemit posts as higher quality and were more likely to engage with them.

Conclusions:

• Incentive-based social media platforms can foster higher-quality health content.
• These platforms represent a potential model for next-generation health information dissemination.