Gabriella, how could you use this information to re-educate those who believe this misinformation on the HPV vaccine? In general, can social media be  used to disseminate evidence-based guidelines in a way that will meaningfully impact rates of vaccination?

Had a blast working with you, Isabella, and Michaella on this project! Learned so much and was a great first research experience for all of us. 

Sex education and perception in the media is very important, especially as nurses! Nice work ladies the poster looks really awesome! What information that you found surprised you the most?
 

I never really thought about how social media could contribute to the misinformation in providing medical information until this coronavirus epidemic, and this poster helped me realize that this misinformation isn't a new phenomenon; it's been here since social media and probably before in other methods, and it contributes to the "anti-vax" mindset. I wonder if there would be some way to analyze the effects that one post or a profile that continuously posts misinformation could have on their followers/viewers.

Great questions! From what I saw in the data, posts against the vaccine tend to use more communicative strategies (use of scientific information/statistics, narratives, much more hashtags, imagery of infection or injury, links to outside references, expert testimonies, etc.) than the supportive posts. So one possible intervention could be to encourage the usage of multiple communication strategies for more exposure and a more effective education. 

But also, the way Instagram works needs to be considered. Interestingly, Instagram has hidden the #hpvvaccine from searches and provided a link to the CDC about vaccines when searching #hpvvaccine. I think maybe a collaborative effort of Instagram and public health officials could help implement stronger methods in order to combat misinformation being accessible. 

Definitely will require more research about the usage of social media for public health and interventions to effectively communicate information in the presence of misinformation or how can social media platforms combat this issue as well. But social media can be a great resource since it is very accessible and information has the potential to disseminate quickly, especially to a large audience. So definitely yes! It is just the matter of finding effective ways that will result in higher vaccination rates. 

What really surprised me was that there was a number of users who had multiple posts containing misinformation. It was almost like they had a network of those against the HPV vaccine, and these same people were disseminating this type of information and reposting each other's posts. They even found ways to get around Instagram since some hashtags that they include were hidden for the most part. So they may have some hashtags unrelated to the HPV/HPV vaccine to garner more attention and exposure. 

I was wondering if there were any trends in popular posts on misinformation? If they were conspiracy theories or if they had tags in common

Love the observation! This definitely applies to the COVID situation with all the misinformation going around. That would be a very interesting research approach that would contribute to finding ways to mitigate the spread of misinformation and provide effective education. 

I found your poster very interesting! I think it can be really easy to look down upon people who do not utilize vaccinations and never try to understand them because of all the research and history that supports vaccines. I really admire how your team actually worked to understand why these people think the way they do and uncovered where they get their information. Understanding these things is critical to stopping the misinformation.

This is such an interesting topic that deserves more study! Did you look into Instagram guidelines for misinformation? Are these sorts of posts ever removed by Instagram or are the hashtags simply hidden?

Here are some, especially ones that stood out to me: 

• The vaccine is made from aborted fetuses. 
• The vaccine is used for population control by the government.
• Very common: The vaccine is linked to multiple health outcomes like death, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, autoimmune diseases, and autism. 
• Very common: Pharmaceutical companies involved have profitable agendas. 
• Very common: The vaccine contains toxic ingredients. 

There were a lot of posts with the same preset of hashtags (examples: #hpvvaccine, #gardasil, #gardasilkills, #cdcwhistleblower, #gardasilgirls, #gardasilboys, #gardasilinjured, #gardasilvictim, #vaccinesdoactuallyharm, #nursesagainstvaccines, #SIDS). There were a lot of tags that repeatedly show up in multiple posts, even tags that mention other vaccines for more exposure. 

We never did look into it which could be helpful! Sometimes when we go back to posts that were already reviewed, they may have been removed which is assumed to have  been reported for violating Instagram guidelines, but there is still a plethora of misinformation on there. But interestingly, if multiple posts under the same hashtag (ex: #hpvvaccine) are reported for violation of Instagram guidelines, it could become hidden, which can minimize Instagram users exposure to misinformation. But majority of posts with misinformation use multiple hashtags with some that are not hidden (like #gardasilinjured).