Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags
BackgroundToothbrushing is the basic step in maintaining oral hygiene and managing caries. The type of toothpaste used, combined with effective toothbrushing techniques, significantly influences oral health outcomes. Information shared on social media platforms can create awareness, generate interes...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Oral Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/froh.2024.1420500/full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841556624772169728 |
|---|---|
| author | Khalifa S. Al-Khalifa Rasha AlSheikh Basmah O. Alakloby Hind M. Alharbi Razan F. Alghamdi Saqib Ali Laila Al Dehailan |
| author_facet | Khalifa S. Al-Khalifa Rasha AlSheikh Basmah O. Alakloby Hind M. Alharbi Razan F. Alghamdi Saqib Ali Laila Al Dehailan |
| author_sort | Khalifa S. Al-Khalifa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundToothbrushing is the basic step in maintaining oral hygiene and managing caries. The type of toothpaste used, combined with effective toothbrushing techniques, significantly influences oral health outcomes. Information shared on social media platforms can create awareness, generate interest, and influence perceptions regarding toothpaste brands and their benefits. This raised the necessity to comprehensively understand the influence of social media, particularly Instagram, on consumer decision-making processes and behavior related to toothpaste selection.Aimto explore toothpaste-related content on Instagram by addressing this gap and highlighting the characteristics of the top-performing toothpaste posts. Method: data were acquired for the “Top 12 posts” for each selected hashtag listed by the Instagram search algorithm. The contents of each post, including the number of likes, number of followers, content type, poster role, post content, post theme, post type, and account type were collected. Moreover, whether the poster was a dentist, patient, or dental interest group was identified. Data was then analyzed using SPSS with a statistical significance level set at p = .05.ResultsThe study analyzed a total of 1,054,985 posts revealing varying levels of engagement and content characteristics. Notably, the #Toothpaste hashtag garnered the highest number of posts, while #ToothpasteNatural had the lowest. Posts were predominantly promotional (61.1%) compared to educational (38.9%), with marketing being the primary theme. Educational content attracted significantly more engagement, with more likes/views and comments than promotional content. Additionally, the role of the poster influenced content type, with patients and dentists associated more with educational content, while dental interest groups and companies favored promotional material. However, there was no significant difference in the accuracy of claims between educational and promotional content.ConclusionInstagram shapes consumer behavior in toothpaste selection, with promotional content dominating despite higher engagement with educational posts. Limited fact-based content highlights the need for stricter regulations and increased contributions from dental professionals to improve oral health education. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1b268b79f9c8433b8a8e075de3caa142 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-4842 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Oral Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-1b268b79f9c8433b8a8e075de3caa1422025-01-07T06:46:40ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Oral Health2673-48422025-01-01510.3389/froh.2024.14205001420500Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtagsKhalifa S. Al-Khalifa0Rasha AlSheikh1Basmah O. Alakloby2Hind M. Alharbi3Razan F. Alghamdi4Saqib Ali5Laila Al Dehailan6Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaBackgroundToothbrushing is the basic step in maintaining oral hygiene and managing caries. The type of toothpaste used, combined with effective toothbrushing techniques, significantly influences oral health outcomes. Information shared on social media platforms can create awareness, generate interest, and influence perceptions regarding toothpaste brands and their benefits. This raised the necessity to comprehensively understand the influence of social media, particularly Instagram, on consumer decision-making processes and behavior related to toothpaste selection.Aimto explore toothpaste-related content on Instagram by addressing this gap and highlighting the characteristics of the top-performing toothpaste posts. Method: data were acquired for the “Top 12 posts” for each selected hashtag listed by the Instagram search algorithm. The contents of each post, including the number of likes, number of followers, content type, poster role, post content, post theme, post type, and account type were collected. Moreover, whether the poster was a dentist, patient, or dental interest group was identified. Data was then analyzed using SPSS with a statistical significance level set at p = .05.ResultsThe study analyzed a total of 1,054,985 posts revealing varying levels of engagement and content characteristics. Notably, the #Toothpaste hashtag garnered the highest number of posts, while #ToothpasteNatural had the lowest. Posts were predominantly promotional (61.1%) compared to educational (38.9%), with marketing being the primary theme. Educational content attracted significantly more engagement, with more likes/views and comments than promotional content. Additionally, the role of the poster influenced content type, with patients and dentists associated more with educational content, while dental interest groups and companies favored promotional material. However, there was no significant difference in the accuracy of claims between educational and promotional content.ConclusionInstagram shapes consumer behavior in toothpaste selection, with promotional content dominating despite higher engagement with educational posts. Limited fact-based content highlights the need for stricter regulations and increased contributions from dental professionals to improve oral health education.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/froh.2024.1420500/fulltoothpasteinstagramfluorideinfluencerssocial media |
| spellingShingle | Khalifa S. Al-Khalifa Rasha AlSheikh Basmah O. Alakloby Hind M. Alharbi Razan F. Alghamdi Saqib Ali Laila Al Dehailan Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags Frontiers in Oral Health toothpaste fluoride influencers social media |
| title | Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags |
| title_full | Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags |
| title_fullStr | Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags |
| title_full_unstemmed | Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags |
| title_short | Instagram's impact on dental consumers: analyzing toothpaste hashtags |
| title_sort | instagram s impact on dental consumers analyzing toothpaste hashtags |
| topic | toothpaste fluoride influencers social media |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/froh.2024.1420500/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT khalifasalkhalifa instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags AT rashaalsheikh instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags AT basmahoalakloby instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags AT hindmalharbi instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags AT razanfalghamdi instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags AT saqibali instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags AT lailaaldehailan instagramsimpactondentalconsumersanalyzingtoothpastehashtags |