Contraceptive content shared on social media: an analysis of Twitter

Melody Huang; Alba Gutiérrez-Sacristán; Elizabeth Janiak; Katherine Young; Anabel Starosta; Katherine Blanton; Alaleh Azhir; Caroline N Goldfarb; Felícita Kuperwasser; Kimberly M Schaefer; Rachel E Stoddard; Rajet Vatsa; Allison A Merz-Herrala; Deborah Bartz

doi:10.1186/s40834-024-00262-2

Contraceptive content shared on social media: an analysis of Twitter

Contracept Reprod Med. 2024 Feb 7;9(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s40834-024-00262-2.

Authors

Melody Huang¹, Alba Gutiérrez-Sacristán², Elizabeth Janiak^{3

4}, Katherine Young⁵, Anabel Starosta¹, Katherine Blanton¹, Alaleh Azhir⁵, Caroline N Goldfarb¹, Felícita Kuperwasser¹, Kimberly M Schaefer¹, Rachel E Stoddard¹, Rajet Vatsa^{1

6}, Allison A Merz-Herrala⁷, Deborah Bartz^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, 02115, Boston, MA, USA.
² Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, 10 Shattuck Street, Suite 514, 02115, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street CWN-3, 02115, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, 02115, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, 77 Massachusetts Ave, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁶ Harvard PhD Program in Health Policy, 14 Story Street, 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 2356 Sutter Street, 94115, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁸ Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, 02115, Boston, MA, USA. dbartz@bwh.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street CWN-3, 02115, Boston, MA, USA. dbartz@bwh.harvard.edu.

Abstract

Background: Information on social media may affect peoples' contraceptive decision making. We performed an exploratory analysis of contraceptive content on Twitter (recently renamed X), a popular social media platform.

Methods: We selected a random subset of 1% of publicly available, English-language tweets related to reversible, prescription contraceptive methods posted between January 2014 and December 2019. We oversampled tweets for the contraceptive patch to ensure at least 200 tweets per method. To create the codebook, we identified common themes specific to tweet content topics, tweet sources, and tweets soliciting information or providing advice. All posts were coded by two team members, and differences were adjudicated by a third reviewer. Descriptive analyses were reported with accompanying qualitative findings.

Results: During the study period, 457,369 tweets about reversible contraceptive methods were published, with a random sample of 4,434 tweets used for final analysis. Tweets most frequently discussed contraceptive method decision-making (26.7%) and side effects (20.5%), particularly for long-acting reversible contraceptive methods and the depot medroxyprogesterone acetate shot. Tweets about logistics of use or adherence were common for short-acting reversible contraceptives. Tweets were frequently posted by contraceptive consumers (50.6%). A small proportion of tweets explicitly requested information (6.2%) or provided advice (4.2%).

Conclusions: Clinicians should be aware that individuals are exposed to information through Twitter that may affect contraceptive perceptions and decision making, particularly regarding long-acting reversible contraceptives. Social media is a valuable source for studying contraceptive beliefs missing in traditional health research and may be used by professionals to disseminate accurate contraceptive information.

Keywords: Birth control pill; Contraceptive decision making; Contraceptive side effects; LARC; SARC; Social networks; Tweets.

Grants and funding

T32 GM144273/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States