Social Media Posts to Encourage In-Person Connections: Online Experiment With Young Adults.

Résumé

PURPOSE: Loneliness is high among emerging adults in the United States, which leads to unique health risks among emerging adults with lower subjective social status. We aimed to optimize evidence-based intervention messages as video social media posts to encourage in-person social interactions.METHODS: We conducted a between-persons online experiment with young adults (aged 18-29, lower subjective social status, and low-to-moderate psychosocial health). Participants were randomized to visual framing (showing socially connected peers, showing lonely peers, showing safe spaces, or nonintervention control videos) and message framing for intervention conditions only (intervention advice from a peer only vs. institutional source). Participants rated their message reactions for six video posts.RESULTS: Young adult participants (N = 1,103) reported that all intervention messages encouraged social interactions (i.e., perceived message effectiveness) more than the control video posts, p < 0.001. The connected peer and lonely peer messages led to greater perceived social presence and relevance than the safe spaces or control messages, both p < 0.001. Connected peer posts (vs. lonely) led to greater positive affect, whereas lonely peer posts (vs. connected) led to greater identification with the person posting and (unintended) negative affect, all p < 0.05. There were no differences for the message framing (peer vs. institutional), all p > 0.05.DISCUSSION: Video social media posts are a promising approach to communicate intervention advice to young adults experiencing economic hardship. Showing peers in videos-successfully connected or feeling lonely-is key to positive message reactions and for encouraging in-person social interactions.