Mapping Research Trends in Social Media Integration into Health Communication Practices: A Bibliometric Analysis (2014–2024)

Abstract

This study employs bibliometric methods to analyze 1,462 Scopus publications from 2014 to 2024 to identify research hotspots and map the evolutionary path of social media adoption into health communication practices. The findings illustrate the evident interdisciplinary nature of this research, dominated by Medicine and Social Sciences disciplines. The United States is overwhelmingly dominant, producing 50.48% of the total publications, while China and Australia are emerging steadily, reflecting increasing global interest in this research area. Thematic evolution indicates that early research investigated social media as a potential channel for disseminating health information. Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, research agendas have shifted toward combating health misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and infodemic phenomena, highlighting the critical role of social media in public health crisis communication. Since 2022, emerging topics such as AI-powered algorithms and adolescent health have gained increasing attention. While this research uncovered the research trajectory of social media adoption into health communication, it has some limitations regarding data sources, methodological diversity, and timeliness. Future research should emphasize exploring technological ethics, supporting global health equity, and pursuing mixed-methods approaches to advance the scientific application of social media in health communication.