Celebrities and Breast Cancer: A Multidimensional Quali-Quantitative Analysis of News Stories Shared on Social Media

Priscila Biancovilli, Lilla Makszin, Faten Amer and Alexandra Csongor ()
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Priscila Biancovilli: Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, 7621 Pécs, Hungary
Lilla Makszin: Institute of Bioanalysis, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Faten Amer: Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, 7621 Pécs, Hungary
Alexandra Csongor: Department of Languages for Biomedical Purposes and Communication, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-10

Abstract: In 2020, breast cancer was the most frequent type of cancer in 158 countries. To advise the population about risk factors and the importance of preventive measures, celebrities can be of great help, acting as spokespersons for reliable scientific information. The goal of this study is to analyse the content of news stories about breast cancer shared on different social media, examining how stories with celebrity presence are constructed. We performed a quali-quantitative multidimensional analysis of news stories in English that addressed breast cancer on the following social media platforms: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Reddit. We compared news stories with and without the presence of celebrities. Our sample consists of 1594 news stories that had at least 1000 total shares across all analysed social media; 262 news stories mention a celebrity (16.44%), while 1332 stories do not (83.56%). Nevertheless, the ones that feature celebrities are, as a rule, more shared. The percentage of stories with celebrities addressing breast cancer prevention is quite low (1.9%). The same can be said for mentions of scientific papers/specialist quotes (3.4%). This research may help outline some possible paths that healthcare organizations and communication professionals can take to improve breast cancer content available online.

Keywords: breast cancer; social media; content analysis; prevention; online; communication (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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