The use of social media for health promotion has become increasingly common, but research has shown that many public health departments are not using the technologies to their full potential (Thackeray, Neiger, Smith, & Van Wagenen, 2012). In an effort to examine the ideal method of using social media for delivering health promotion messages, a 2 X 4 between-subjects factorial experiment was conducted. Specifically, a cancer risk reduction message was shown to participants via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or a blog post. Additionally, the source of the message was varied, with the communicator identified as either a health professional or a peer. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model [ELM] (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) and Media Richness Theory (Dennis & Kinney, 1998), the impact of these two variables on elaboration, comprehension, credibility, attitudes, and behavioral intentions was examined. Results indicated that health professionals were seen as more competent than layperson sources, but not as having more trustworthiness or goodwill. In turn, perceptions of trustworthiness and goodwill had significant, positive effects on attitudes toward cancer risk reduction, which were also related to behavioral intentions. Hypotheses related to the ELM suggested that the nature of elaboration is complex, as it played various moderating roles on the credibility-attitude relationship and the attitude-behavioral intentions relationship. Finally, results indicated that the type of social media used was significantly related to message comprehension and attitudes, with YouTube consistently leading to the most positive results. Altogether, this study provides suggestions for the optimal use of social media for health promotion messages, but also points to several important areas for future research. A full test of the ELM is warranted to determine the contributors to and the role of cognitive elaboration, as well as to examine factors that help to increase the credibility dimensions of trustworthiness and goodwill. Studies examining this context are valuable for capitalizing on the potential of social media technologies and for moving public health into the modern communication sphere.
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