Patients as health influencers: motivations and consequences of following cancer patients on Instagram

Patient health influencers have become new sources of information on social media. In our study, we investigated the motivations and consequences of following accounts of Instagram influencers from the nonprofit Blogger 4 Charity, all of whom have suffered from cancer and shared their experiences with their followers. Following a cross-sectional survey of 1,601 followers, we performed structural equation modelling to investigate how different types of followers varied according to motivation, information gain, and behaviour change. Whereas followers directly affected (i.e. have suffered from cancer) scored highest for social interaction and expression motivations for following the accounts, indirectly affected followers (i.e. have relatives or friends suffering from cancer) and general interest followers scored higher for perceived information gain and behaviour change induced by following them. Thus, following such social media accounts may help directly affected followers to emotionally cope with their health conditions via expressive, interactive activities and indirectly affected and general interest followers to gain information and adopt healthier behaviours.