Ab1333 Social Media Strategies to Engage Patients With Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Infodemiology Study

Background: Social media platforms have emerged as powerful tools in patient education and communication, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, they provide valuable data that can be leveraged to analyze the sentiment of social media interactions and posts. The Arab Adult Arthritis Awareness (AAAA) Group, a special interest group of the Arab League of Associations for Rheumatology (ArLAR), comprising 19 rheumatologists from 17 Arab countries, has been working for the past three years to raise awareness about rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) among patients and public. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to analyze both demographic and performance metrics across the Social Media channels for the AAAA group awareness campaigns. Methods: The data was collected from October 2020 to October 2022. We used the Meta Suite Analysis Tool for Facebook and Instagram, Twitter Analytics, and YouTube Studio Analytics. A social media sentiment analysis was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods. We extracted data for each channel separately, including demographic metrics such as gender, countries, and regions, and performance metrics including reach, impressions, likes, views, follows, and subscribers. To ensure accurate estimation and interpretation of the sentiment indicator, a benchmark indicator and calculation matrix were developed. Results: Facebook had the highest number of followers at 29873 (61.96% of all followers), followed by Instagram with 10087 (20.92%), Twitter with 7449 (15.45%), and YouTube with 803 (1.67%). Facebook followers were predominantly in the 35-44 years age range (33.20%), while Instagram had a higher percentage of followers in the 25-34 age range (36.80%). For gender distribution, Instagram had a higher percentage of female followers (56.40%). Most Facebook and Instagram followers were from North Africa (52.00% and 43.5%, respectively), followed by the Levant region (18.70% and 18.8%, respectively) and the Gulf region (5.50% and 6.1%, respectively). Interestingly, one out of 4 followers on these two platforms was not from an Arab country. For YouTube, the largest percentage of views came from the Gulf region (48.86%), followed by the Levant region (30.20%) and North Africa (20.38%). Between October 2020 and September 2021, a total of 4118400 impressions and a growth of 7333 followers were identified. However, between October 2021 and October 2022, a decrease in impressions (384,700 or 9.3%) and followers (loss of 497 followers or 6.8%) was observed. On the qualitative analysis, Most sentiments were positive, particularly on Instagram (30%). Some sentiments were negative and were mainly identified on Twitter (93%). Conclusion: The study provides important insights into the profile of the online audience and the performance of social media campaigns aiming for RMDs awareness. The decrease in engagement over time should motivate the implementation of new targeted strategies and the judicious use of the different platforms. By implementing these insights, organizations can enhance their social media reach and increase RMDs' awareness, contributing to improved healthcare outcomes and cross-cultural understanding. REFERENCES: NIL. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: Ihsane Hmamouchi Pfizer, Novartis, Janssen, Abbvie (for the RBSMR "the register of biologics of the Moroccan Society of Rheumatology"), Nelly Ziade: None declared, Nizar Abdulateef Al-Ani: None declared, Fatemah Abutiban: None declared, Manal EL RAKAAWI: None declared, Mounir Ghogho: None declared, Najia Hajjaj-hassouni: None declared, Basel Masri: None declared, Hussein Halabi: None declared, Lina El Kibbi: None declared.