Using social media to share universal messages about early language and literacy development with parents and caregivers.

Purpose: Health promotion and prevention interventions to support children's early language and literacy development are essential, however little is known about how social media can be used in this context. This study evaluated an intervention which aimed to build capacity of parents in supporting children's language and literacy skills, implemented using Facebook.

Method: A cross-sector partnership of Australian speech-language pathologists developed a suite of universal messages for parents to support their child's language development. Messages were delivered across 12 weeks via Facebook. A convergent mixed methods study design was used to evaluate survey responses from parents of children aged 0-5 years, before (n = 136) and after the intervention (n = 61). Social media analytics were collected.

Result: Participants identified social media was a helpful way to receive information about supporting their child's language and literacy development, reporting an increase in knowledge following the intervention. Participants reported they trusted information provided in Facebook posts as it was from professionals and evidence-based sources. The usability (i.e. look and layout) was generally rated highly.

Conclusion: Social media is a valuable tool for speech-language pathologists to deliver universal messages. Future social media initiatives should be co-designed with families and social media professionals to ensure delivery of trusted, consistent, and user-friendly information.