Analysing Credibility of UK Social Media Influencers' Weight-Management Blogs: A Pilot Study.

ABSTRACT: Social media influencers (SMI) are individuals with large follower engagement, who can shape the thoughts and dietary behaviours of their audience. Concerns exist surrounding the spread of dietary misinformation by SMI, which may impact negatively on public health, yet no standards currently exist to assess the credibility of their information. This study aimed to evaluate the credibility of key SMI weight management (WM) blogs (n = 9), piloting a pre-prepared credibility checklist. SMI were included if they had a blue-tick verification on ≥2 social media (SM) and an active WM blog. A sample of blog posts were systematically evaluated against thirteen credibility indicators under four themes: 'transparency', 'use of other resources', 'trustworthiness and adherence to nutritional criteria'

SUBMITTER: Sabbagh C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7731114 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature