Social Media Influencers and Sexual Health: A Systematic Review of Communication Techniques

Abstract Background Lay users have been using social media for several years to communicate health messages. These influencers, who share their opinions and experiences, use specific communication techniques to reach young people and disseminate sexual health messages. There is no consensus in the literature on the impact of these influencers on sexual health behavior, and lack of a common conceptual framework for analyzing existing communication techniques on social media regarding sexual health. We search, in the literature describing and analyzing those influencer messages, the communication techniques used by content creators on social media to address sexual health topics. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the international scientific literature following PRISMA guidelines. Studies included must describe sexual health communication techniques on social media that may be aimed at 13-24 year-olds. Searches were carried out on PubMed, Webofscience, LISTA and OpenDissertations. Results The search algorithm retrieved 2573 articles, of which 44 were included in the final analysis. Preliminary results indicate that the methodologies used for content analysis are highly heterogeneous. There are few scientific articles studying the communication techniques used on social media as a potential means of promoting sexual health, particularly for video-based content. Moreover, most articles focused on disease and pregnancy prevention, rather than on messages promoting positive sexual health and well-being. Conclusions This review underlines a lack of consistency in both the terminology and conceptual frameworks used to study sexual health communication on social media. It also points to a lack of literature interested in positive communication in sexual health, including regarding crucial notions like sexual pleasure. As a result, we propose a unified framework for researchers to use a common language and tools to describe communication on social media. Key messages • This review provides a synthesis of existing published knowledge on communication techniques used on social media to discuss and promote sexual health. • We propose a comprehensive framework based on the existing literature for researchers to consistently describe and analyze health communication techniques on social media.