Topolovec-Vranic J, Natarajan K. (2016). The use of social media in recruitment for medical research studies: A scoping review. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 18(11): e286. doi: 10.2196/jmir.5698
Researchers reviewed 30 studies that used social media and at least one other recruitment method for medical research and compared the effectiveness of social media to other methods. The median percentage of participants recruited through social media was 32% (range: 0-98.3%). Twelve studies found that social media was the most effective method of recruitment (i.e. recruited the most participants). Studies focused on “hard to reach” populations or those with specific diagnoses found that social media was the most effective tool for recruitment. Facebook was one of the more effective social media sites for recruitment. Of 13 studies that compared cost-effectiveness of social media to other methods of recruitment, 5 studies found that social media was the most cost-effective method of recruitment relative to other recruitment methods. Recruitment via social media is affected by many different factors and the success of social media as a recruitment tool compared to other methods varies depending on study population targets.