In the first part of the study, researchers conducted a systematic review of studies related to TikTok and its association with public health or mental health from 2016 to 2021. They searched six databases and identified 24 studies covering various topics, including COVID-19, dermatology, eating disorders, and public health promotion. Most of these studies were from the USA and used content analysis as their research method.

In the second part of the study, the researchers analyzed 29 Irish TikTok accounts, including those of public health authorities, charities, and personal TikTok creators. These accounts collectively garnered significant engagement from younger populations, with a total of over 2.5 million likes, 13,775 comments, and 21,254 shares.

Study 1 – Systematic Review

Search Strategy: The research team developed a comprehensive search strategy that included relevant public and mental health terms combined with the keyword “TikTok.” This strategy was applied to six databases, namely PSYCINFO, PUBMED, Wiley, Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), covering the period from 2016 to 2021. The detailed search strategy is available in the supplementary materials.

Search Timeline: The search was conducted between June and July 2021, resulting in the screening of 275 studies initially.

Selection Criteria and Quality Appraisal: Studies that were included had to be published in English and focus primarily on TikTok. For quantitative studies, the team used the quality appraisal tool by Dunne et al. (2018), while qualitative studies were assessed using the CASP (2018) checklist. The second author conducted the initial screening of titles and abstracts, with both authors discussing and reaching a consensus on articles with unclear eligibility.

• Number of Studies: A total of 24 studies were included in the final review.
• Geographical Distribution: The majority of these studies were conducted in the USA (20 out of 24), with the remaining studies originating from China, Ireland, Australia, and Canada.
• Research Methodologies: Most of the studies employed content analysis as their primary research methodology (20 out of 24). Other research designs included cross-sectional studies (1), thematic analysis (2), and case series (1).
• Diverse Topics: The research on TikTok covered a wide range of topics, including COVID-19 (10 studies), dermatology (7), eating disorders (1), cancer (1), tics (1), radiology (1), sexual health (1), DNA (1), and public health promotion (1).
• Study Quality: The overall quality of the studies varied, with 11 studies rated as low quality, 7 as acceptable, and 6 as good quality.

Study 2 – Content Analysis on TikTok

Search Strategy and Data Collection: The research team aimed to replicate the search strategy used in Study 1. They converted the search terms into TikTok hashtags and combined them with Irish-specific hashtags. The top two “most liked” videos were selected from three specific groups: official public health accounts, registered Irish charities, and personal TikTok creators. This data collection took place in July 2021, using a research-only TikTok account.

Coding Approach: To centralize and organize the collected information, a descriptive table was created in advance. This table included engagement metrics like the number of likes, followers, and comments, as well as video characteristics, summaries, and duration. The presence of a dialogic loop, where questions were posed and answered to encourage engagement, was considered crucial for TikTok and counted across all included content. Data extraction and synthesis were manually performed by the second author using Microsoft Excel.

• Account Types: The analysis covered various types of TikTok accounts popular in Ireland, including public health accounts (2), charity accounts (5), and personal creator accounts (22).
• Engagement Metrics: The analysis revealed substantial engagement with TikTok content, including 2,588,181 likes, 13,775 comments, and 21,254 shares.
• Account Characteristics: There were notable differences in the characteristics of content across different account types, such as official public health accounts, TikTok personal accounts (creators), and charity accounts.
• Engagement Levels: TikTok creators were found to be the most engaging and interactive, which correlated with their higher number of followers.
• Dialogic Loop: The presence of a dialogic loop, a key engagement measure, was observed across different content and account types.

Conclusions

While TikTok has been utilized for various public health purposes, including mental health awareness, the study highlighted that institutional accounts have not effectively engaged with the platform. The study also found differences in how TikTok accounts used platform features to interact with users.

The researchers emphasized the need for high-quality evaluations of TikTok content’s impact on public and mental health, especially considering its popularity among children and young people. They noted that TikTok presents a unique opportunity for youth mental health practitioners to connect with their target audience, but there is still much to learn about its functionality and effects on mental health.

The study also discussed concerns about the potential negative effects of social media on youth mental health, with TikTok being no exception. However, it highlighted the lack of specific clinical literature on TikTok use and the need for more comprehensive research in this area.

Despite these concerns, TikTok has acknowledged both the positive and negative aspects of its platform and has taken steps to address issues related to user well-being, such as providing resources for users seeking help with suicide-related content.

Overall, these results demonstrate the diversity of research topics related to TikTok and the varying levels of engagement across different types of TikTok accounts in the Irish context.

In conclusion, while TikTok has become a prominent platform for youth engagement, more research is needed to understand its impact on mental health and public health fully. As the platform continues to grow in popularity, addressing these research gaps becomes increasingly important in ensuring the well-being of young users.

The study found that TikTokers have spent an average of 630 million hours watching videos involving doctors, surpassing 628 million hours watching teachers and around 427 million hours watching nurses’ videos.

After doctors, teachers, and nurses, chefs, dentists, pilots, chiropractors, and electricians were the next most popular professions on the platform. However, many other healthcare-related professions, such as orthodontists, pharmacists, dental hygienists, physician assistants, psychologists, optometrists, pediatricians, physical therapists, counselors, psychiatrists, and dieticians, all made it to the top 35.

In short, people flock to TikTok for health information, a trend that is not new. There are numerous famous physician influencers building their personal brands on the platform.

A study released earlier this year by Hall & Partner found that Gen Z and millennials are increasingly turning to TikTok for health advice and information instead of consulting their doctors. It also revealed that 18% of the U.S. population seek health information and guidance from social media influencers.

It’s not surprising, then, that doctors top the list of the most popular professions on TikTok.

The Registered Nursing study discovered that people particularly love healthcare videos that involve treatment explanations or breakdowns, as well as the infamous “doctor reacts” videos.
Content featuring pimple-popping, dietary advice, skincare guidance, and humorous commentary on daily life in the hospital has gone viral on the site, reaching millions of users.

Despite the popularity of healthcare information on the site, a lot of it can be misleading or misinformed.

A study released in December 2022 found that 84% of TikTok’s mental health videos, for example, are misleading.

Healthcare professions’ popularity, and perhaps simultaneously the lack of authoritative, quality information, on TikTok may present an opportunity for healthcare marketers.

Instagram will begin hiding search results for hashtags that consistently return false information about vaccines, the company said today. Starting today, the company will effectively begin blocking access to hashtags that return misinformation designed to dissuade people from getting vaccinated. Instagram made the announcement at an event for press in San Francisco on Thursday.

If the hashtag was #vaccines1234, if it contained a high proportion of known vaccine misinformation, we would block that hashtag entirely, said Karina Newton, Instagram’s global head of public policy.

“Known vaccine misinformation” refers to misinformation that has been verified as false by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and similar organizations, the company said. Other posts that express anti-vaccine views but have not been confirmed as false could be allowed to stay up, the company said.

The news comes as Facebook has been under increasing pressure to remove anti-vaccine propaganda from its network of sites, where its recommendation algorithms have helped to create large audiences for the hoaxes. It has been two months since Facebook said it would crack down on anti-vaccination hoaxes, but journalists have continued to find them all over the company’s platforms. Meanwhile, a measles outbreak in New York City has drawn new attention to the impact of anti-vaccine misinformation.

Instagram will review posts that are being removed under misinformation policies and use machine learning to understand which hashtags they are associated with, it said. If a hashtag has a “high proportion” of misinformation, it will be blocked. Instagram declined to specify the percentage, saying it could encourage people to try to game the system.

Instagram also plans to introduce a pop-up message for people searching for vaccine information linking them to high-quality information about the subject. It has not yet finalized the wording of the message but hopes to introduce it soon, the company said.

Instagram said the work to remove anti-vaccination information from the platform was in its early stages, and that people would likely continue to find anti-vaccination propaganda on the service for some time.

It’s going to take some time to continue the work on it, Newton said.

Separately, Instagram announced that it is building a tool to appeal content moderation decisions, such as those about anti-vaccination posts. If your post is removed, you will be able to request a review of Instagram’s decision. The post will then be sent to a different moderator. If they reverse the decision, your post will be restored. If they uphold the decision, the app will inform you.

The appeals tool is now in testing for decisions surrounding nudity, the company said. It will be available for other types of content “in the coming months,” said Bettina Fairman, Instagram’s director of community operations.