Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis

BackgroundFacebook can be a suitable platform for public health interventions. Facebook users can express their reaction to the given social media content in many ways using interaction buttons. The analysis of these interactions can be advantageous in increasing reach and engagement of public healt...

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Main Authors: Dávid Pócs, Otília Adamovits, Jezdancher Watti, Róbert Kovács, Oguz Kelemen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2021-06-01
Series:Journal of Medical Internet Research
Online Access:https://www.jmir.org/2021/6/e27853
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author Dávid Pócs
Otília Adamovits
Jezdancher Watti
Róbert Kovács
Oguz Kelemen
author_facet Dávid Pócs
Otília Adamovits
Jezdancher Watti
Róbert Kovács
Oguz Kelemen
author_sort Dávid Pócs
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundFacebook can be a suitable platform for public health interventions. Facebook users can express their reaction to the given social media content in many ways using interaction buttons. The analysis of these interactions can be advantageous in increasing reach and engagement of public health interventions. ObjectiveThis research aimed at understanding how Facebook users’ interactions correlate with organic reach and engagement regarding the same smoking cessation support contents. MethodsThe study population consisted of Facebook users who were reached by a public smoking cessation support page without advertising. We included 1025 nonpaid Facebook posts (N=1025) which used smoking cessation strategies based on a motivational interviewing counseling style. The following data were collected from the “Post Details”: the number of people who saw the given nonpaid content (organic reach) which consisted of fan and nonfan reach according to previous “page like” activity; each rate of “engagement indicators” (such as the symbols of “like,” “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad,” “angry”; or other interactions: “shares,” “comments,” “clicks”); and the rate of negative Facebook interactions (eg, “post hides” or “unlike of page”). Overall, these data were analyzed with the Spearman correlation method. ResultsSurprisingly, we found a significant negative correlation between organic reach and the “like” reaction (rs=–0.418; P<.001). The strongest significant positive correlations of organic reach were observed with the “haha” reaction (rs=0.396; P<.001), comments (rs=0.368; P<.001), and the “love” reaction (rs=0.264; P<.001). Furthermore, nonfan reach correlated positively with “shares” (rs=0.388; P<.001) and clicks (rs=0.135; P<.001), while fan reach correlated positively with the “haha” reaction (rs=0.457; P<.001), comments (rs=0.393; P<.001), and the “love” reaction (rs=0.310; P<.001). Contrary to expectations, the “like” reaction was sharply separated by significant negative correlations from “wow” (rs=–0.077; P=.013), “sad” (rs=–0.120; P<.001), “angry” reactions (rs=–0.136; P<.001), and comments (rs=–0.130; P<.001). Additionally, a high rate of negative Facebook interactions was significantly associated with “wow” (rs=0.076; P=.016) and “sad” reactions (rs=0.091; P=.003). ConclusionsThis study has shown that it is possible to hypothesize a disadvantage of the “like” reaction and advantages of other interactions (eg, the “haha” reaction or “comments”) in content algorithmic ranking on Facebook. In addition, the correlational analysis revealed a need of a further categorization to fan-specific interactions (eg, “haha” or “love” reactions) and nonfan-specific interactions (eg, “shares” and “clicks”). Regarding the direction of the correlations, these findings suggest that some interactions (eg, negative Facebook interactions, “wow,” “sad,” and “angry” reactions) may decrease the engagement, while other interactions (“like,” “love,” “haha” reactions, “shares,” and “clicks”) may increase the engagement during Facebook-based smoking cessation interventions. This hypothesis-generating research offers an important insight into the relationship between organic reach, engagement, and Facebook users’ interactions for public health professionals who design Facebook-based interventions.
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spelling doaj.art-68294128d3af444eab1280a737aa2d712022-12-22T04:11:26ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712021-06-01236e2785310.2196/27853Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content AnalysisDávid Pócshttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6544-5148Otília Adamovitshttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3095-9020Jezdancher Wattihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2903-6157Róbert Kovácshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9608-2762Oguz Kelemenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4522-9904BackgroundFacebook can be a suitable platform for public health interventions. Facebook users can express their reaction to the given social media content in many ways using interaction buttons. The analysis of these interactions can be advantageous in increasing reach and engagement of public health interventions. ObjectiveThis research aimed at understanding how Facebook users’ interactions correlate with organic reach and engagement regarding the same smoking cessation support contents. MethodsThe study population consisted of Facebook users who were reached by a public smoking cessation support page without advertising. We included 1025 nonpaid Facebook posts (N=1025) which used smoking cessation strategies based on a motivational interviewing counseling style. The following data were collected from the “Post Details”: the number of people who saw the given nonpaid content (organic reach) which consisted of fan and nonfan reach according to previous “page like” activity; each rate of “engagement indicators” (such as the symbols of “like,” “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad,” “angry”; or other interactions: “shares,” “comments,” “clicks”); and the rate of negative Facebook interactions (eg, “post hides” or “unlike of page”). Overall, these data were analyzed with the Spearman correlation method. ResultsSurprisingly, we found a significant negative correlation between organic reach and the “like” reaction (rs=–0.418; P<.001). The strongest significant positive correlations of organic reach were observed with the “haha” reaction (rs=0.396; P<.001), comments (rs=0.368; P<.001), and the “love” reaction (rs=0.264; P<.001). Furthermore, nonfan reach correlated positively with “shares” (rs=0.388; P<.001) and clicks (rs=0.135; P<.001), while fan reach correlated positively with the “haha” reaction (rs=0.457; P<.001), comments (rs=0.393; P<.001), and the “love” reaction (rs=0.310; P<.001). Contrary to expectations, the “like” reaction was sharply separated by significant negative correlations from “wow” (rs=–0.077; P=.013), “sad” (rs=–0.120; P<.001), “angry” reactions (rs=–0.136; P<.001), and comments (rs=–0.130; P<.001). Additionally, a high rate of negative Facebook interactions was significantly associated with “wow” (rs=0.076; P=.016) and “sad” reactions (rs=0.091; P=.003). ConclusionsThis study has shown that it is possible to hypothesize a disadvantage of the “like” reaction and advantages of other interactions (eg, the “haha” reaction or “comments”) in content algorithmic ranking on Facebook. In addition, the correlational analysis revealed a need of a further categorization to fan-specific interactions (eg, “haha” or “love” reactions) and nonfan-specific interactions (eg, “shares” and “clicks”). Regarding the direction of the correlations, these findings suggest that some interactions (eg, negative Facebook interactions, “wow,” “sad,” and “angry” reactions) may decrease the engagement, while other interactions (“like,” “love,” “haha” reactions, “shares,” and “clicks”) may increase the engagement during Facebook-based smoking cessation interventions. This hypothesis-generating research offers an important insight into the relationship between organic reach, engagement, and Facebook users’ interactions for public health professionals who design Facebook-based interventions.https://www.jmir.org/2021/6/e27853
spellingShingle Dávid Pócs
Otília Adamovits
Jezdancher Watti
Róbert Kovács
Oguz Kelemen
Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis
Journal of Medical Internet Research
title Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis
title_full Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis
title_fullStr Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis
title_short Facebook Users’ Interactions, Organic Reach, and Engagement in a Smoking Cessation Intervention: Content Analysis
title_sort facebook users interactions organic reach and engagement in a smoking cessation intervention content analysis
url https://www.jmir.org/2021/6/e27853
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