Table 1.
The databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Ichushi Web) that were queried and the search terms applied to identify potential publications for review.
Fig 1.
Flow diagram for the selection of literature reviewed.
The abstract screening process resulted in 286 studies identified for detailed review of full-text articles. After this review, we further excluded studies that did not meet our definition of social media (e.g., Internet search, ProMED-mail) or discussed methods exclusively. We identified a total of 60 studies that met our eligibility criteria and addressed at least one of the two research questions. This process took over a year to complete because the authors donated their free time to review and analyze the literature.
Fig 2.
Number of Studies Addressing Questions 1 and 2, Reviewed in Detail by Year Published (January 2000 –February 2013).
Table 2.
Counts of Funding Agency Types and Their Direct Involvement in the Review Studies.
Table 3.
Characteristics of 15 influenza-like illness studies addressing research question 1a.
Table 4.
Characteristics of 6 infectious disease studies addressing research question 1a.
Table 5.
Characteristics of 4 non-infectious disease studies addressing research question 1a.
Table 6.
Characteristics of 4 medicine or vaccine studies addressing research question 1a.
Table 7.
Characteristics of 5 “other” topic studies addressing research question 1a.
Table 8.
Characteristics of 10 health risk behavior studies addressing research question 2a.
Table 9.
Characteristics of 3 infectious diseases studies addressing research question 2a.
Table 10.
Characteristics of 9 non-infectious diseases studies addressing research question 2a.
Table 11.
Characteristics of 10 “other” topic studies addressing research question 2a.