EXPLORING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF MILLENNIALS IN SEARCH OF SAFE SEX AND SEXUAL HEALTH INFORMATION

EXPLORING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF MILLENNIALS IN SEARCH OF SAFE SEX AND SEXUAL HEALTH INFORMATION

Rodriguez, J. L., Chaco, J., Contreras, C., & Ramgoolam, D. (2017). Exploring the Role of Social Media in the Information Seeking Behavior of Millennials in Search of Safe Sex and Sexual Health Information. In iConference 2017 Proceedings (pp. 794-797). https://doi.org/10.9776/17343

Research Advisor: Connie Pascal, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University

The purpose of this research is to explore millennials’ preferences when seeking safe sex (SS) and sexual health information (SHI) and whether or not this population views social media sites as preferred sources. Understanding the information preferences of millennials in this context can help educators better disseminate accurate and timely information. This study consisted of an online survey (n=82) which revealed that millennials are not using social media for SS and SHI, primarily due to concerns of accuracy. The survey did reveal that even though millennials believe medical professionals and schools are the best source for acquiring SHI, a majority of respondents (63%) indicated that they use internet websites as their primary source of information. Our research is meant to provide dialogue and background information for future research.

Presented at iConference 2017