Communication of nutrition information by influencers on social media: A scoping review. 2022

Alice Rogers, and Shelley Wilkinson, and Olivia Downie, and Helen Truby
School of Human Movement and Nutrition Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

OBJECTIVE Although government promoted public health, social media and media campaigns have communicated nutrition information, the Australian population remains chronic under-consumers of fruit and vegetables and overconsumers of ultra-processed foods. This scoping review aimed to determine how social media influencers (SMI) communicate nutrition information and the factors that influence the popularity of messages. Identified factors could inform how governments may utilise social media to impact positively on food choices. METHODS Nine databases were searched in the past 5 years (2016-2021). After relevant sources were identified, entire texts of the grey literature and the "Results" sections of the academic literature were coded. Using Microsoft Word, each key feature of the relevant text was highlighted, and the relevant code was recorded. Inductive coding was utilised where codes were created based on the text itself. These codes were then sorted iteratively into relevant themes and subthemes. RESULTS Eleven studies were included. From these sources, five themes were identified. These were, (i) promoting dietary change, (ii) certain modes/styles of content delivery, (iii) an attractive individual, (iv) language features and (v) appearing connected to the audience. CONCLUSIONS SMI are selective in their content and communication techniques to ensure their nutrition messages are popular with social media users. These methods exhibited by SMI could inform strategies to build trust in government messages about food and nutrition.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D009752 Nutritional Status State of the body in relation to the consumption and utilization of nutrients. Nutrition Status,Status, Nutrition,Status, Nutritional
D003142 Communication The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups. Miscommunication,Misinformation,Social Communication,Communication Programs,Communications Personnel,Personal Communication,Communication Program,Communication, Personal,Communication, Social,Communications, Social,Miscommunications,Misinformations,Personnel, Communications,Program, Communication,Programs, Communication,Social Communications
D005518 Food Preferences The selection of one food over another. Food Selection,Food Preference,Food Selections,Preference, Food,Preferences, Food,Selection, Food,Selections, Food
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001315 Australia The smallest continent and an independent country, comprising six states and two territories. Its capital is Canberra. Canton and Enderbury Islands,Christmas Island,Christmas Island (Australia)
D061108 Social Media Platforms that provide the ability and tools to create and publish information accessed via the INTERNET. Generally these platforms have three characteristics with content user generated, high degree of interaction between creator and viewer, and easily integrated with other sites. Folksonomy,Mobile Social Media,Mobile Social Networks,Social Media Messaging,Social Tagging,Social Medium,Twitter Messaging,Web 2.0,Folksonomies,Media Messaging, Social,Media, Social,Messaging, Social Media,Messaging, Twitter,Mobile Social Medias,Mobile Social Network,Social Media Messagings,Social Media, Mobile,Social Network, Mobile,Social Taggings,Tagging, Social,Web 2.0s

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