Cost and Effectiveness of Using Facebook Advertising to Recruit Young Women for Research: PREFER (Contraceptive Preferences Study) Experience.

Social media is a popular and convenient method for communicating on the Web. The most commonly used social networking website, Facebook, is increasingly being used as a tool for recruiting research participants because of its large user base and its ability to target advertisements on the basis of Facebook users' information. We evaluated the cost and effectiveness of using Facebook to recruit young women into a Web-based intervention study (PREFER). The PREFER study aimed to determine whether an educational video could increase preference for and uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). We placed an advertisement on Facebook over a 19-day period from December 2017 to January 2018, inviting 16- to 25-year-old women from Australia to participate in a Web-based study about contraception. Those who clicked on the advertisement were directed to project information, and their eligibility was determined by using a screening survey. Our Facebook advertisement delivered 130,129 impressions, resulting in over 2000 clicks at an overall cost of Aus $918 (Aus $0.44 per click). Web-based project information was accessed by 493 women. Of these, 462 women completed the screening survey, and 437 (437/463, 95%) women were eligible. A total of 322 young women participated in Surveys 1 and 2 (74% response rate), and 284 women participated in Survey 3 (88% retention rate), with an advertising cost of Aus $2.85 per consenting participant. Facebook proved to be a quick, effective, and cost-efficient tool for recruiting young Australian women into a study that was investigating contraceptive preferences. However, Web-based recruitment may result in sociodemographic biases. Further research is required to evaluate whether Facebook is suitable for recruiting older study populations.

McCarthy E ，Mazza D 《JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH》

Beyond Traditional Newspaper Advertisement: Leveraging Facebook-Targeted Advertisement to Recruit Long-Term Smokers for Research.

Carter-Harris L ，Bartlett Ellis R ，Warrick A ，Rawl S ... -  《JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH》

Effectiveness and Cost of Using Facebook Recruitment to Elicit Canadian Women's Perspectives on Bone Health and Osteoporosis: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Billington EO ，Hasselaar CM ，Kembel L ，Myagishima RC ，Arain MA ... -  《JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH》

Using Paid and Free Facebook Methods to Recruit Australian Parents to an Online Survey: An Evaluation.

The prevalence of social media makes it a potential alternative to traditional offline methods of recruiting and engaging participants in health research. Despite burgeoning use and interest, few studies have rigorously evaluated its effectiveness and feasibility in terms of recruitment rates and costs, sample representativeness, and retention. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using Facebook to recruit employed Australian parents to an online survey about managing work and family demands, specifically to examine (1) recruitment rates and costs; (2) sample representativeness, compared with a population-based cohort of parents; and (3) retention, including demographic and health characteristics of parents who returned to complete a follow-up survey 6 weeks later. Recruitment was conducted using 20 paid Facebook advertising campaigns, supplemented with free advertising approaches such as posts on relevant Facebook pages and requests for professional networks to circulate the survey link via Facebook. Recruitment rates and costs were evaluated using the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys, including view rate, participation rate, completion rate, cost per consent, and cost per completer. Sample representativeness was evaluated by comparing demographic and outcome variables with a comparable sample from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children including educational attainment, marital status, country of birth, neighborhood disadvantage, work-family conflict, and psychological distress. Retention was evaluated by comparing the number and demographic characteristics of participants at recruitment and at 6-week follow-up. Recruitment strategies together resulted in 6653 clicks on the survey link, from which 5378 parents consented to participate and 4665 (86.74%) completed the survey. Of those who completed the survey, 85.94% (4009/4665) agreed to be recontacted, with 57.79% (2317/4009) completing the follow-up survey (ie, 43.08% [2317/5378] of parents who consented to the initial survey). Paid Facebook advertising recruited nearly 75% of the sample at Aus $2.32 per completed survey (Aus $7969 spent, 3440 surveys completed). Compared with a population-based sample, participants at baseline were more likely to be university educated (P<.001), experience greater work-family conflict (P<.001) and psychological distress (P<.001), and were less likely to be born outside Australia (P<.001) or live in a disadvantaged neighborhood (P<.001). Facebook provided a feasible, rapid method to recruit a large national sample of parents for health research. However, some sample biases were observed and should be considered when recruiting participants via Facebook. Retention of participants at 6- to 8-week follow-up was less than half the initial sample; this may reflect limited ongoing participant engagement for those recruited through social media, compared with face-to-face.

Bennetts SK ，Hokke S ，Crawford S ，Hackworth NJ ，Leach LS ，Nguyen C ，Nicholson JM ，Cooklin AR ... -  《JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH》

Using Facebook to Recruit Young Australian Men Into a Cross-Sectional Human Papillomavirus Study.

Young men can be difficult to engage in health research using traditional methods of recruitment. Social networking sites are increasingly being used to recruit participants into health research, due to their cost effectiveness, overall generalizability, and wide reach. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of using Facebook to recruit young Australian men into a human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence study. We recruited male permanent residents of Australia, aged 18 to 35 years, into the HPV in Young Males (HYM) study through targeted advertising placed on Facebook. Consenting participants completed an online questionnaire and provided a self-collected penile swab for HPV DNA detection and genotyping. We compared sociodemographic characteristics of the study population with those of the general Australian male population, based on Australian 2011 census data. Between February 2015 and February 2017, targeted Facebook advertisements reached 1,523,239 men, resulting in 41,811 clicks through to the study website, with 1072 (2.56%) converting to lodgment of an expression of interest. Of these, 681 (63.53%) provided written informed consent and 535 (78.6% of recruited participants) completed all the study requirements. Reasons for participating in the study included altruism, past history of HPV, gaining more knowledge about HPV or the vaccine, working in the health industry, and the monetary compensation. The average advertising cost per completed study participant was Aus $48. Compared with the census population, HYM study participants were more likely to be Australian born (P<.001), be from Victoria (P=.003) or the Australian Capital Territory (P=.004), reside in a major city (P<.001), and have completed undergraduate (P<.001) or postgraduate education (P<.001). HYM study participants were less likely to report being a current smoker (P=.03), but were more likely to identify as bisexual or homosexual (294/529, 55.6%, P<.001), than the general population. Using Facebook is a feasible and efficient strategy for the recruitment of men from across Australia for HPV testing. This method could be used for monitoring the impact of HPV vaccination. Additional targeting may achieve a sample that is broadly demographically representative of the Australian population. Future research should explore how the sexual risk behavior characteristics of populations recruited through Facebook compare with those of traditional recruitment methods.

Das R ，Machalek DA ，Molesworth EG ，Garland SM ... -  《JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH》