- Half of U.S. adults under 50 get their health advice from influencers or podcasters.
- More than half of the influencers are not medical professionals.
- The shift in sources could be related to declining public trust in health agencies.
A new Pew Research Center study found that half of U.S. adults under 50 get their health and wellness advice from social media influencers or podcasters.
To see what kind of health advice young Americans are getting, Pew analyzed 6,828 accounts across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram with at least 100,000 followers who regularly post about health and wellness.
What the study shows
The study published last week found 41% of the influencers labeled themselves a healthcare professional in their profile. The next most common identifiers were “coach” (31%) and “entrepreneur” (28%), and many of the other accounts simply pointed to their life experience or role as a parent or activist as their credentials.
Of the report, the New York Times said: “Nearly one in five accounts gave no explanation for why they were qualified to post about health and wellness topics,” yet still amassed large numbers of followers.
Despite the lack of medical licensing across the social media influencers, their information reaches millions of users. Pew reported 1 in 10 health and wellness influencers have more than 1 million followers.
What’s driving the shift to social media?
A poll from KFF showed that “public trust in government health agencies has fallen” since the pandemic, which might be causing the shift in young adults’ source of health information.
Rachel Moran is a health misinformation researcher at the University of Washington. Per the Times, Moran said self-proclaimed coaches and entrepreneurs “are able to toe the line. They can claim professional health experience without being seen as part of the establishment.”
Social media and podcasts are also more personal than a doctor’s office. People can scroll or listen from the comfort of their own home and feel like they are getting personal health advice from a friend.
“But there are dangers to applying someone’s personal experience to your own life,” Moran said, per the Times. She said that something can be misinformation not because it’s not true, but because one individual’s personal experience with health and wellness cannot always be generalized.
Health versus hype
In response to the misinformation floating around online in the health and wellness sector, the American Medical Association launched a podcast last month called “Health vs. Hype with the AMA.” The podcast features physicians discussing health trends so listeners can understand “which health claims are real, which are risky, and which are backed by science.”
“’Health vs. Hype’ cuts through the noise—bringing people clear, evidence-based insights from physicians so they know what is clinically sound and what’s just clickbait," said John Whyte, CEO of the AMA.