Center for Health Communication
Creator Research
In an era where more and more of us are getting health news and information from social media, could creators help public health counter misinformation and disseminate evidence-based science?
The Center for Health Communication is conducting innovative, community-engaged research to answer this question.
In collaboration with creators and others working in the creator economy, we are building the evidence-base for the effectiveness of public health x creator partnerships.
Our current research questions include:
How does exposure to evidence toolkits affect creators?
Our recent field experiment on TikTok showed that exposure to our public-health toolkits increased the amount of evidence-based content that creators made: These inexpensive, scalable supports can “influence the influencers” to spread evidence-based health information.
How does “influencing the influencers” affect the health beliefs and behaviors of their audiences?
Across two experiments, we found that providing mental health communication training to social media creators improved audience mental health knowledge and emotional support skills.
How does attending events like the Creators Summit on Mental Health impact creators?
Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we are studying how creators who participated in the summit view themselves, their community, and their motivations to make content.
How can we make our supports more useful to creators?
In collaboration with Social Currant, we are studying how we might optimize the delivery and format of toolkits and briefings to inspire more creators to use them.