Loeb Stacy, Massey Philip, Leader Amy E, Thakker Sameer, Falge Emily, Taneja Sabina, Byrne Nataliya, Rose Meredith, Joy Matthew, Walter Dawn, Katz Matthew S, Wong Risa L, Selvan Preethi, Keith Scott W, Giri Veda N
Department of Urology and Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
Manhattan Veterans Affairs, New York, NY, United States.
JMIR Cancer. 2021 Sep 20;7(3):e27063. doi: 10.2196/27063.
Genetic testing, particularly for BRCA1/2, is increasingly important in prostate cancer (PCa) care, with impact on PCa management and hereditary cancer risk. However, the extent of public awareness and online discourse on social media is unknown, and presents opportunities to identify gaps and enhance population awareness and uptake of advances in PCa precision medicine.
The objective of this study was to characterize activity and engagement across multiple social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) regarding BRCA and genetic testing for PCa compared with breast cancer, which has a long history of public awareness, advocacy, and prominent social media presence.
The Symplur Signals online analytics platform was used to obtain metrics for tweets about (1) #BRCA and #breastcancer, (2) #BRCA and #prostatecancer, (3) #genetictesting and #breastcancer, and (4) #genetictesting and #prostatecancer from 2016 to 2020. We examined the total number of tweets, users, and reach for each hashtag, and performed content analysis for a subset of tweets. Facebook and YouTube were queried using analogous search terms, and engagement metrics were calculated.
During a 5-year period, there were 10,005 tweets for #BRCA and #breastcancer, versus 1008 tweets about #BRCA and #prostatecancer. There were also more tweets about #genetictesting and #breastcancer (n=1748), compared with #genetic testing and #prostatecancer (n=328). Tweets about genetic testing (12,921,954) and BRCA (75,724,795) in breast cancer also had substantially greater reach than those about PCa (1,463,777 and 4,849,905, respectively). Facebook groups and pages regarding PCa and BRCA/genetic testing had fewer average members, new members, and new posts, as well as fewer likes and followers, compared with breast cancer. Facebook videos had more engagement than YouTube videos across both PCa and breast cancer content.
There is substantially less social media engagement about BRCA and genetic testing in PCa compared with breast cancer. This landscape analysis provides insights into strategies for leveraging social media platforms to increase public awareness about PCa germline testing, including use of Facebook to share video content and Twitter for discussions with health professionals.
基因检测，尤其是针对BRCA1/2的检测，在前列腺癌（PCa）治疗中日益重要，对PCa管理和遗传性癌症风险具有影响。然而，公众意识程度以及社交媒体上的在线讨论情况尚不清楚，这为识别差距以及提高公众对PCa精准医学进展的认识和接受度提供了机会。
本研究的目的是描述多个社交媒体平台（推特、脸书和优兔）上关于PCa的BRCA和基因检测的活动及参与情况，并与乳腺癌进行比较，乳腺癌在公众意识、宣传以及社交媒体上的显著存在方面有着悠久的历史。
使用Symplur Signals在线分析平台获取2016年至2020年期间关于（1）#BRCA和#乳腺癌、（2）#BRCA和#前列腺癌、（3）#基因检测和#乳腺癌、（4）#基因检测和#前列腺癌的推文指标。我们检查了每个主题标签的推文总数、用户数和覆盖面，并对一部分推文进行了内容分析。使用类似的搜索词查询脸书和优兔，并计算参与度指标。
在5年期间，#BRCA和#乳腺癌的推文有10,005条，而关于#BRCA和#前列腺癌的推文有1008条。关于#基因检测和#乳腺癌的推文（n = 1748）也比#基因检测和#前列腺癌的推文（n = 328）更多。乳腺癌中关于基因检测（12,921,954）和BRCA（75,724,795）的推文覆盖面也大大高于前列腺癌（分别为1,463,777和4,849,905）。与乳腺癌相比，关于PCa和BRCA/基因检测的脸书群组和页面的平均成员、新成员和新帖子较少，点赞和关注者也较少。在PCa和乳腺癌内容方面，脸书视频的参与度均高于优兔视频。
与乳腺癌相比，PCa中关于BRCA和基因检测的社交媒体参与度要低得多。这一态势分析为利用社交媒体平台提高公众对PCa种系检测的认识提供了策略见解，包括利用脸书分享视频内容以及利用推特与健康专业人员进行讨论。
