Appendix: Content Summaries of Selected Best Paper for the IMIA Yearbook 2020
Reuter K, Zhu Y, Angyan P, Le N, Merchant AA, Zimmer M
Public concern about monitoring twitter users and their conversations to recruit for
clinical trials: survey study
J Med Internet Res 2019 Oct 30;21(10):e15455
This study used two online surveys to examine public attitudes of using Twitter to
recruit clinical trial participants. While nearly half the survey respondents agreed
that social media monitoring constitutes a form of eavesdropping, the authors concluded
that most social media users do not think monitoring Twitter for clinical trial recruitment
constitutes inappropriate surveillance or a violation of privacy. The authors also
remind researchers to remain mindful that some participants might find social media
monitoring problematic when associated with certain conditions or health topics, and
that further research is required to isolate factors that influence the level of concern
among social media users across platforms and populations.
