The Influencer Stories of Mental Health and Young People project is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Birmingham, Aston University and the University of Nottingham, funded by the ESRC.The project explores how stories told by social media influencers (‘influencers’) can help young people or put them at risk as they gain awareness of, … Continue reading “Influencer Stories of Mental Health and Young People”
Misinformation and Mental Health Content on TikTok: A Bigger Picture
The Guardian’s recent investigation into misinformation in 100 trending videos with #MentalHealthTips makes some important points. They found that 52% of the videos included advice that contained misinformation, with other content that was ‘vague or unhelpful’. False information about mental health has serious consequences, such as leading people to take ineffective treatments or ignore medical … Continue reading “Misinformation and Mental Health Content on TikTok: A Bigger Picture”
Influencer Stories Youth Jury
On 30th April, we hosted a Youth Jury at the University of Birmingham. We were joined by Dr David Crepaz-Keay from the Mental Health Foundation, Colleagues and young people from the McPin Foundation Councillor Kath Scott (Sutton Vesey Ward, Labour Party) Ella Bradshaw (Policy and Public Affairs Officer – NSPCC) Adrian McLean (Severn Academies Educational … Continue reading “Influencer Stories Youth Jury”
Supplements as ‘harmful help’: Wellness influencers and mental health
The BBC recently ran an article by @Jacqui_wak exposing influencers who sell fake cures for polycystic ovary syndrome. In our research about mental health, we also found that some influencers promote solutions which risk harm rather than providing help. Our data (27,000 videos from TikTok) includes content from health professionals, people with lived experience of … Continue reading “Supplements as ‘harmful help’: Wellness influencers and mental health”
Getting Access to TikTok Data (as a Researcher)
At the time of writing, TikTok is one of the more transparent windows into online multimodal communication, with a research platform that allows a degree of granularity no longer present on places like Meta (Facebook, Instagram), X (Twitter) or Reddit. This, alongside its generational appeal to a younger demographic, makes TikTok an ideal place to … Continue reading “Getting Access to TikTok Data (as a Researcher)”