Use of Facebook by Hospitals in Taiwan: A Nationwide Survey

Po-Chin Yang, Wui-Chiang Lee, Hao-Yen Liu, Mei-Ju Shih, Tzeng-Ji Chen, Li-Fang Chou and Shinn-Jang Hwang
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Po-Chin Yang: Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Wui-Chiang Lee: Department of Medical Affairs and Planning, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Hao-Yen Liu: Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Mei-Ju Shih: Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Tzeng-Ji Chen: Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Li-Fang Chou: Department of Public Finance, National Chengchi University, Taipei 116, Taiwan
Shinn-Jang Hwang: Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: Background : Social media advertising has become increasingly influential in recent years. Because Facebook has the most active users worldwide, many hospitals in Taiwan have created official Facebook fan pages. Our study was to present an overview of official Facebook fan pages of hospitals in Taiwan. Methods : All 417 hospitals were surveyed about their use of Facebook fan pages in December 2017. The last update time, posts in the past 30 days, number of “Likes”, and other features were analyzed and stratified according to the accreditation statuses of the hospitals. Results : In Taiwan, only 51.1% ( n = 213) of the hospitals had an official Facebook fan page. Among these hospitals, 71.8% ( n = 153) had updated their pages in the past 30 days, although 89.2% ( n = 190) provided online interactions. Academic medical centers tended to have more “Likes” than regional and local community hospitals (on average 5947.4, 2644.8, and 1548.0, respectively). Conclusions : In spite of the popularity of Facebook among the general population, most hospitals in Taiwan do not seem to make good use of this kind of social media. The reasons for the use and nonuse of Facebook on the part of both hospitals and patients deserve further investigation.

Keywords: hospitals; social media; Facebook; Taiwan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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