Third-Party Reproduction - What's Trending on Instagram?

Area of Science:

• Social Media Analysis
• Reproductive Medicine
• Digital Health Communication

Background:

• Third-party reproduction (TPR) involves gamete or embryo donation and surrogacy.
• Social media platforms like Instagram are increasingly used for health information sharing.
• Understanding the landscape of TPR information on Instagram is crucial for effective communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the prevalence, authorship, and content types of third-party reproduction information on Instagram.
• To identify key themes and trends in user-generated content related to TPR.

Main Methods:

• A systematic hashtag analysis of 10 TPR-related terms was conducted.
• Content analysis of the most recent 100 posts per hashtag was performed in December 2021.
• Authorship and content type (patient experiences, outreach, ads, educational) were categorized.

Main Results:

• Over 838,000 posts were identified, with 'surrogacy,' 'surrogate,' and 'surrogacy journey' being most popular.
• Patients authored the majority of posts (59.2%), sharing personal experiences (39.4%).
• Commercial groups and professional societies also contributed, but physician presence was limited (3.3%).

Conclusions:

• Instagram's TPR content is predominantly patient-driven, focusing on personal narratives.
• Opportunities exist to increase physician engagement to improve educational content and patient outreach.
• Enhanced physician participation could foster a more informative and connected online environment for TPR discussions.