Abstract
Social media is an efficient way to spread information, given its widespread daily use by the general population. While it has been shown that public health information can be rapidly disseminated, whether the newer social media platform, TikTok, is effective for this purpose has yet to be explored. The goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of TikTok for the public health topic of injury prevention, specifically with regards to bicycling-related safety education. The TikTok account “iBikeSafe” was created to disseminate injury prevention information related to bicycle safety. Data collected was both qualitative (video classification, comment categorization) and quantitative (likes, views, comments). Performance data was compared between TikTok and another video-sharing social media platform (YouTube). Posts that were didactic (or educational) in nature yielded more views, likes, and comments than posts that were fun or casual in nature. Almost half (46%) of comments made by users on iBikeSafe’s TikTok videos were made to constructively further the discussion and to educate others with accurate injury prevention information. Five of the six videos that were adapted from the iBikeSafe YouTube channel for use on TikTok garnered exponentially more views on TikTok (from 118% to 2057%) than on YouTube, despite having less followers/subscribers (759 TikTok vs 977 YouTube) and being in existence for less time (11 months vs 8 years). TikTok is an effective platform for injury prevention education. Didactic posts best provide users with the ability to engage with content and to discuss takeaways, while fun posts keep users active within the platform. Both educational and fun types of videos play an integral role in the effective use of this platform for bicycle safety education. Consideration should be taken into account for the appropriate ratio of didactic versus fun posts for information dissemination in any public health educational campaign making use of this platform.