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A preliminary study investigating the use of rabbit-related Facebook groups in relation to rabbit health information

02 September 2018
14 mins read
Volume 9 · Issue 7

Abstract

Background:

There has been a dramatic increase in the use of social networking sites such as Facebook over the last decade. However, limited research has been conducted focusing on pet owners' use of these sites for pet health information.

Aim:

The aim of this study was to gather, via an online anonymous survey, information from rabbit owners about their use of rabbit-related Facebook groups and determine if and how these group pages are used for rabbit health information.

Methods:

Responses from 304 UK rabbit owners who were members of at least one rabbit-related Facebook groups were received and analysed.

Results:

The majority of participants were a member of more than one rabbit-related Facebook group. The most common reasons for joining such groups were to ‘to keep up to date about rabbit-related information’ (84.9%), ‘to learn more about rabbits’ (78.0%) and ‘to discuss topics about rabbits with like-minded people’ (71.1%). Just over half of respondents (52.3%) joined rabbit-related Facebook groups to ‘seek advice about the health of my rabbits’. Nearly half of owners (41.3%) deemed Facebook groups as a trustworthy source of rabbit health information. The most common health issue Facebook group users asked about was gastrointestinal related.

Conclusions:

Results of this study highlight the importance of veterinarians and veterinary staff engaging with social media pet health groups to facilitate owners sourcing accurate and reliable online pet health information and seeking timely veterinary treatment.

The popularity of social networking sites has increased considerably over the last 15 years with sites such as Facebook (FB) now having over one billion daily users (Facebook, 2018). The largest age group to use FB is 25–34 years of age, followed by those 35–44 years old (Statista, 2018a). Males and females use FB in nearly equivalent numbers; FB users comprise 52% women and 48% men (Statista, 2018b). In addition to an individual FB user profile, users can join FB groups where people can engage in written discussion, ‘like’ posts, and post pictures and videos related to topics of common interest (Holzner, 2008).

A FB page, whether for an individual or a business, is in many ways a miniature personal website for a company or an individual. A FB page can be ‘liked’ by another FB user which means that posts on the page will show up on their newsfeed. A FB group, on the other hand, is a forum for collaboration and communication between like-minded individuals. Groups can be public, closed (anybody can find the group, but only members can see the posts), or secret (the group is unable to be found unless added by a current member). Groups can be more personal; they often become an online community and can easily facilitate member communication via chat, wall posts, and email (Hancockcreatv, 2018).

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