Over a half million children are living with cancer in the United States. Social media platforms offer unique opportunities for cancer communication by public health organizations as well as health care providers, scientists, patients, and caregivers. Given the dearth of research on childhood cancer communication, the present study aimed to examine the nature of tweets on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that used the hashtag #childhoodcancer, the types of these tweets that attracted the most retweets, the types of users tweeting about childhood cancer (e.g., individuals, health care professionals), and the nature of tweets made by the different types of users. We performed a content analysis of tweets we captured on X via NCapture in October and December 2022. Of the 3217 tweets captured, we randomly sampled 1000 eligible tweets and manually double-coded them. Interrater agreement was 83% (κ = 0.75). Results revealed six themes in the tweets, including fundraising (21.2%), advocacy (20.2%), motivational (17.5%), educational (15.3%), science (12.8%), and shout-outs (12.1%). Motivational, advocacy, and science tweets attracted more retweets than fundraising tweets and shout-outs (p < 0.001). Individuals (i.e., patients, caregivers, and advocates tweeting on their own behalf) and nonprofit organizations made a majority of the tweets at 41.5% and 38.6%, respectively, followed by health care professionals (8.7%), academic and/or medical centers (4.2%), and for-profit companies (3.5%). Childhood cancer communication on X is dominated by individuals doing advocacy and fundraising. X may provide important opportunities for public health messaging and science communication about childhood cancer.

BACKGROUND:About 59%-73% of Black women do not meet the recommended targets for physical activity (PA). PA is a key modifiable lifestyle factor that can help mitigate risk for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension that disproportionately affect Black women. Web-based communities focused on PA have been emerging in recent years as web-based gathering spaces to provide support for PA in specific populations. One example is Black Girls Run (BGR), which is devoted to promoting PA in Black women.OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to describe the content shared on the BGR public Facebook page to provide insight into how web-based communities engage Black women in PA and inform the development of web-based PA interventions for Black women.METHODS:Using Facebook Crowdtangle, we collected posts (n=397) and associated engagement data from the BGR public Facebook page for the 6-month period between June 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021. We pooled data in Dedoose to analyze the qualitative data and conducted a content analysis of qualitative data. We quantified types of posts, post engagement, and compared post types on engagement: "like," "love," "haha," "wow," "care," "sad," "angry," "comments," and "shares."RESULTS:The content analysis revealed 8 categories of posts: shout-outs to members for achievements (n=122, 31%), goals or motivational (n=65, 16%), announcements (n=63, 16%), sponsored or ads (n=54, 14%), health related (n=47, 11%), the lived Black experience (n=23, 6%), self-care (n=15, 4%), and holidays or greetings (n=8, 2%). The 397 posts attracted a total of 55,354 engagements (reactions, comments, and shares). Associations between the number of engagement and post categories were analyzed using generalized linear models. Shout-out posts (n=22,268) elicited the highest average of total user engagement of 181.7 (SD 116.7), followed by goals or motivational posts (n=11,490) with an average total engagement of 160.1 (SD 125.2) and announcements (n=7962) having an average total engagement of 129.9 (SD 170.7). Significant statistical differences were found among the total engagement of posts (χ72=80.99, P<.001), "like" (χ72=119.37, P<.001), "love" (χ72=63.995, P<.001), "wow" (χ72=23.73, P<.001), "care" (χ72=35.06, P<.001), "comments" (χ72=80.55, P<.001), and "shares" (χ72=71.28, P<.001).CONCLUSIONS:The majority of content on the BGR Facebook page (n=250, 63%) was focused on celebrating member achievements, motivating members to get active, and announcing and promoting active events. These types of posts attracted 75% of total post engagement. BGR appears to be a rich web-based community that offers social support for PA as well as culturally relevant health and social justice content. Web-based communities may be uniquely positioned to engage minoritized populations in health behavior. Further research should explore how and if web-based communities such as BGR can be interwoven into health interventions and health promotion.

Background Recent evidence suggests that 59%-73% of Black women are not reaching recommended targets for physical activity (PA). PA is a key modifiable lifestyle factor that can help mitigate risk for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, which disproportionately affect Black women. Web-based communities focused on PA have been emerging in recent years as digital gathering spaces to provide support for PA in specific populations. Objective The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the Black Girls Run (BGR) Facebook page, which is devoted to promoting PA in Black women and has over 230,000 followers. Such data can inform future social media–based interventions. Methods We collected 397 posts and associated engagement data from the national BGR Facebook page for the 6-month period between June 1 and December 31, 2021. We then conducted a content analysis of these posts and examined which types of posts elicited the most engagement. Results The content analysis revealed 8 categories of posts: shout-outs (30.7%), goals or motivational posts (16.3%), announcements (15.9%), sponsored posts or advertisements (13.6%), health-related posts (11.0%), the lived Black experience posts (5.79%), self-care posts (3.78%), and holiday-related posts or greetings (2.02%). These 397 posts attracted a total of 55,573 engagements. Of these, 33,560 were “reactions” (eg, likes) and 5082 were shares. Shout-outs elicited the highest engagement (22,268 engagements), followed by goals or motivational posts (11,490 engagements). Conclusions The majority of content on the BGR Facebook page (62.9%) was focused on celebrating member achievements, motivating members to become active, and announcing and promoting active events. This content also attracted 75% of the engagement on this page. BGR appears to be a rich web-based community that offers social support for PA as well as culturally relevant health and social justice content. Web-based communities may be uniquely positioned to engage minoritized populations in health behavior. Further research should explore how to best leverage web-based communities in interventions to increase PA and other lifestyle behaviors. Conflicts of Interest None declared.

Background In behavioral weight loss interventions, participants are asked to set weekly goals to support long-term habits that lead to weight loss. Although participants are asked to set and accomplish weekly goals, we do not know how often they do this and whether doing so is associated with weight loss. Web-based weight loss interventions allow for the analysis of participant engagement data, including how participants articulate their goals and accomplishments. Objective Using engagement data from a web-based weight loss intervention, we examined whether participants articulating their goals and accomplishments in measurable and repeating terms were associated with greater weight loss. Methods Adults with overweight or obesity received a 12-week Facebook-delivered weight loss intervention based on the Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Intervention. Participants replied to conversation threads that queried about their goals and accomplishments. Two independent coders classified participants’ posts that articulated goals or accomplishments as measurable or repeating. Crude and age-adjusted linear regression models were used to examine the relationship between the frequency of post type and percent weight loss. Results Participants (N=53; n=48, 91% female; n=48, 91% non-Hispanic White) were on average 46.2 (SD 10.5) years old with a mean BMI of 32.4 (SD 4.8) kg/m2. Over 12 weeks, participants shared a median of 4 (IQR 1-8) posts that reported goals and 10 (IQR 4-24) posts that reported accomplishments. Most participants shared ≥1 post with a goal (n=43, 81%) and ≥1 post with an accomplishment (n=47, 89%). Each post reporting a goal was associated with 0.2% greater weight loss (95% CI −0.3% to 0.0%). Sharing ≥1 post with a repeating goal was associated with an average of 2.2% greater weight loss (95% CI −3.9% to −0.4%). Each post with a repeating goal was associated with an average of 0.5% greater weight loss (95% CI −1.0% to 0.0%). Sharing ≥1 post with measurable and repeating goals was associated with an average of 1.9% greater weight loss (95% CI −3.7% to −0.2%). Sharing each post with an accomplishment was associated with an average of 0.1% greater weight loss (95% CI −0.1% to 0.0%). Every post with an accomplishment that was repeating was associated with an average of 0.2% greater weight loss (95% CI −0.3% to 0.0%). Sharing other types of goals and accomplishments was not associated with weight loss. Conclusions In a web-based weight loss intervention, stating goals in repeating or both measurable and repeating terms was associated with greater weight loss, but simply stating them in measurable terms was not. For accomplishments, only those articulated in repeating terms were associated with greater weight loss. Posts about one-time goals and accomplishments represent an opportunity to encourage planning for future behaviors. Future research should examine if stating goals and accomplishments in repeating terms signals habit formation.