HARNESSING SOCIAL MEDIA ALGORITHMIC TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL IN PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNICATION AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS ON HEPATITIS B IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

Abstract

Modern society relies on effective and efficient communication with the media informing the general public. This study evaluates the use of social media algorithmic technology as a tool for public health communication about hepatitis B Virus (HBV) awareness campaign in South East Nigeria using Enugu and Ebonyi states as study areas. The research utilized the survey method which is usually employed to assess attitudinal, demographic and psychographic underpinnings. The population of study is 7,709,813 from which a sample size of 385 was drawn using the Australian Calculator. The multi-staged sampling was utilized and the questionnaire served as the instrument of data collection. Findings indicate that majority of respondents agreed that campaigns on social media and algorithms enabled pop-ups on hepatitis B increased their knowledge and provided more information about hepatitis B virus than they previously had. The study recommends that challenges of cost of access and lack of dedicated public health communication sites should be handled by relevant government agencies and stakeholders to increase ease of access and to provide verified public health information sites. This would help increase verified and supportive public health information sources to dispel information from unverified wrong information sources.