Social media for health and fitness

As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of digital communication technologies for health and wellness is becoming more widely recognized. One important aspect of this is the use of social media for health information seeking. This chapter defines terms such as health information, consumer health information, and consumers of health information. It also addresses three key challenges in the area of health-information seeking on social media: poor or inaccurate information, overreaction and overdiagnosis, and privacy risks. The chapter also discusses the use of social media for fitness and exercise and looks at the phenomenon of #fitspiration as an example. It also briefly explores the growing interest in self-tracking technologies and the appeal of the “quantified self.”