Have you ever turned to a YouTuber or an Instagram influencer for health tips and medical advice?
Social media has been a monumental medium for the dissemination of such information. But for alongside the facts, there also exists the potential to spread falsehoods.
You may have heard about Australian wellness blogger Belle Gibson, who claimed to cure her terminal cancer by eating healthy and refusing chemotherapy.
In 2015, around two years after she rose to prominence, Gibson admitted she lied about her cancer diagnosis.
I – Word Understanding
Monumental – important
Dissemination – the act of spreading (information)
Prominence – being famous
II – Have Your Say
1. Where would you get health advice from?
2. Over the last decade we have seen social media grow rapidly in importance. According to the August 2017 Global Digital Statshot from We Are Social and Hootsuite, 3.028 Billion people actively use social media – that’s 40% of the world’s population. Inevitably these people look up to influencers in social media to guide them with their decision making. What can you say about the following influencers? Who would you trust?
a. Celebrities
b. Industry experts and thought leaders
c. Bloggers and content creators
d. Micro Influencers
671 Health Advice From The Internet Isn’t Always Reliable, So Be Careful
