Assessing the Quality of Social Media Content Regarding Facial Paralysis and Reanimation

<b>Introduction:</b> Patients frequently use social media to direct their health care. However, the quality of social media posts regarding facial paralysis and reanimation is unclear. <b>Objective:</b> To assess the quality of facial reanimation posts on social media. <b>Methods:</b> Ten key search terms were used to search YouTube and Facebook. The top 10 posts for each search term were graded using a variety of parameters including the Global Quality Score (GQS), Modified DISCERN, Journal of the American Medical Association Criteria, and a novel Social Media Quality Score (SMQS) which was created by the authors. <b>Results:</b> There was a significant difference in SMQS (<i>P</i> = .035) and GQS (<i>P</i> = .01) between YouTube and Facebook Videos. For YouTube videos, there was a significant difference in SMQS scores (<i>P</i> = .003) between various search terms. For Facebook videos, there was a significant difference in both SMQS (<i>P</i> < .0001) and Modified DISCERN (<i>P</i> = .036) scores. The majority of videos evaluated were of moderate or low quality. <b>Conclusion:</b> Higher quality posts regarding facial reanimation are needed on social media. As health care providers, we must provide patients with appropriate resources to find high-quality posts, and when posting content, we must carefully curate the "key words" so that patients can easily find high-quality content.