1 in 5 Americans Use Social Media for Healthcare Information

One in five Americans use social media websites as a source of healthcare information, according to the Lincoln, Neb.-based National Research Corp.’s Ticker survey, a poll on consumer healthcare opinions and behaviors.

Facebook topped the list of available websites, with 94 percent of respondents indicating they’ve used the popular social network to gather information on their health care. 32 percent used YouTube, a video sharing site. Twitter, an emerging micro-blog site for B2C communication, landed in third with only 18 percent of respondents–tying with MySpace. FourSquare, a location-based website, garnered only 2 percent response.

Americans think highly of the usability of social media but are tempered in crowning it the premiere source of healthcare information when considering all options.