U.S. adult survey · 2024 evidence
How adults use social media for health information.
Watching a health video, sharing information and connecting with other people are different activities. HINTS measures each separately.
of U.S. adults reported watching a health-related video on a social-media site at some frequency during the past 12 months in the 2024 HINTS survey.
Civilian noninstitutionalized adults 18+ · Self-report · All participants in denominator, including missing answers
Social Usage analysis of NCI HINTS 7 public-use data, B12e / SocMed_WatchedVid, responses 1–4. Sampling SE: 1.08 percentage points. Fieldwork March 25–September 16, 2024. NCI does not endorse this presentation.
Watching, sharing and interacting
The chart combines the four answers above “Never” for each activity. It includes occasional activity, not just frequent use. The same person can do several of these things, so the percentages cannot be added to count distinct users.
Source: NCI HINTS 7, B12b–e; original Social Usage aggregation and chart. Interaction includes online forums. Estimates have sampling uncertainty; data table and standard errors.
Watching videos has the largest estimate among these four reported activities; sharing personal information has the smallest. This is a descriptive comparison of different actions, not a ranking of platforms or a test of statistical significance.
View estimates, uncertainty and missing answers
| Activity | Weighted % | SE (pp) | Relative SE (%) | Reporting activity (n) | Missing/invalid (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watched a health-related videosocial media sites | 67.0 | 1.08 | 1.61 | 4,608 | 1.2 |
| Shared general health informationsocial media | 30.1 | 1.03 | 3.42 | 2,121 | 1.5 |
| Interacted about similar health issuessocial media or online forums | 26.3 | 0.89 | 3.38 | 1,790 | 1.2 |
| Shared personal health informationsocial media | 16.1 | 0.81 | 5.03 | 1,185 | 1.4 |
n counts unweighted respondents selecting one of responses 1–4. Percentages use survey weights. Missing/invalid percentages use the same full denominator. Both the combined shares and all sampling errors are Social Usage calculations. SE is a standard error in percentage points, not a 95% margin of error; no confidence interval or significance test is reported.
Variables and source tables: HINTS public codebook PDF pp81–84 (printed pp80–83). Variance: Methodology Report §5.5, 50 JK1 replicate weights and coefficient 0.98.
How often do people do each activity?
Open an activity for its original five response categories and exact question. These percentages are from NCI’s supplied codebook, independently reproduced from the public-use weights. Sampling standard errors are our calculations.
Watched a health-related video
Codebook question: B12e. In the last 12 months, how often did you watch a health-related video on a social media site (for example, YouTube)?
| Exact codebook response | NCI weighted % | Our SE (pp) | Relative SE (%) | Response n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almost everyday | 4.9 | 0.44 | 8.98 | 325 |
| At least once a week | 11.2 | 0.75 | 6.76 | 742 |
| A few times a month | 20.1 | 0.95 | 4.76 | 1,361 |
| Less than once a month | 30.9 | 1.04 | 3.38 | 2,180 |
| Never | 31.8 | 1.04 | 3.28 | 2,570 |
Combined missing or invalid responses: 100 participants, 1.2% weighted. They stay in the denominator and are not assigned to “Never.” Rounding and nonresponse mean the five displayed percentages need not total 100%.
NCI public codebook: HINTS 7 Public Codebook.pdf PDF p84 (printed p83), B12e / SocMed_WatchedVid, responses 1–5. Questionnaire: B12, PDF p5 (printed p4). No platform-specific result is implied by examples in the question.
Shared general health information
Codebook question: B12c. In the last 12 months, how often did you share general health-related information on social media (for example, a news article)?
| Exact codebook response | NCI weighted % | Our SE (pp) | Relative SE (%) | Response n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almost everyday | 1.8 | 0.35 | 20.01 | 116 |
| At least once a week | 2.9 | 0.33 | 11.40 | 203 |
| A few times a month | 5.2 | 0.36 | 6.80 | 451 |
| Less than once a month | 20.2 | 0.87 | 4.31 | 1,351 |
| Never | 68.4 | 1.00 | 1.47 | 5,031 |
Combined missing or invalid responses: 126 participants, 1.5% weighted. They stay in the denominator and are not assigned to “Never.” Rounding and nonresponse mean the five displayed percentages need not total 100%.
NCI public codebook: HINTS 7 Public Codebook.pdf PDF p82 (printed p81), B12c / SocMed_SharedGen, responses 1–5. Questionnaire: B12, PDF p5 (printed p4). No platform-specific result is implied by examples in the question.
Interacted about similar health issues
Codebook question: B12d. In the last 12 months, how often did you interact with people who have similar health or medical issues on social media or online forums?
| Exact codebook response | NCI weighted % | Our SE (pp) | Relative SE (%) | Response n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almost everyday | 1.7 | 0.25 | 14.90 | 137 |
| At least once a week | 3.8 | 0.48 | 12.74 | 248 |
| A few times a month | 5.8 | 0.44 | 7.65 | 434 |
| Less than once a month | 15.1 | 0.67 | 4.46 | 971 |
| Never | 72.5 | 0.86 | 1.18 | 5,381 |
Combined missing or invalid responses: 107 participants, 1.2% weighted. They stay in the denominator and are not assigned to “Never.” Rounding and nonresponse mean the five displayed percentages need not total 100%.
NCI public codebook: HINTS 7 Public Codebook.pdf PDF p83 (printed p82), B12d / SocMed_Interacted, responses 1–5. Questionnaire: B12, PDF p5 (printed p4). No platform-specific result is implied by examples in the question.
Shared personal health information
Codebook question: B12b. In the last 12 months, how often did you share personal health information on social media?
| Exact codebook response | NCI weighted % | Our SE (pp) | Relative SE (%) | Response n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almost everyday | 1.7 | 0.27 | 15.47 | 107 |
| At least once a week | 1.7 | 0.19 | 11.04 | 151 |
| A few times a month | 2.6 | 0.34 | 13.10 | 226 |
| Less than once a month | 10.1 | 0.65 | 6.46 | 701 |
| Never | 82.5 | 0.79 | 0.96 | 5,970 |
Combined missing or invalid responses: 123 participants, 1.4% weighted. They stay in the denominator and are not assigned to “Never.” Rounding and nonresponse mean the five displayed percentages need not total 100%.
NCI public codebook: HINTS 7 Public Codebook.pdf PDF p81 (printed p80), B12b / SocMed_SharedPers, responses 1–5. Questionnaire: B12, PDF p5 (printed p4). No platform-specific result is implied by examples in the question.
“Almost everyday” is the codebook’s label, not an exact daily threshold. “At least once a week” is one mutually exclusive answer choice in this table; it is not the cumulative share combining that choice with more frequent use.
What these numbers can tell you
Use the finding for the activity it names. Watching a video does not establish that someone searched for advice, believed it, acted on it or benefited from it. Sharing a general article is different from disclosing personal health information.
Does this measure how much health misinformation exists?
No. B12b–e ask about activity frequency. They do not assess whether content is accurate, how much false information is circulating or what respondents believe about its truth. Those questions require separate measures.
Is interaction the same as receiving support?
No. The item asks about interacting with people who have similar health or medical issues on social media or online forums. It does not establish helpful support, a diagnosis, treatment or a health outcome.
Are these shares of social-media users?
No. All 7,278 survey participants are retained in each weighted denominator, including nonusers and item nonresponse. We have not restricted the denominator to people who visit social media. See general social-media visit frequency for that separate question.
Can I compare platforms, ages or changes over time?
This selection is one national adult wave with no platform, demographic or historical breakdown. The named sites are question examples, not measured platform audiences. It cannot supply a trend, an age difference, duration or a total audience across activities.
Sources, calculations and dates
The lead and chart are Social Usage analysis of NCI HINTS 7. The detailed category percentages are NCI-reported values. Keep the population, 2024 fieldwork and past-12-month recall window with either kind of citation.
How the combined percentages and sampling errors are calculated
HINTS uses an address-based probability sample of U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized adults. One adult per sampled household is selected by the next-birthday method; responses are collected on paper with a web option. Final person weights account for selection, nonresponse and population calibration.
For each activity, we divide the sum of final weights for response codes 1–4 by the sum of weights for all 7,278 participants, then multiply by 100. Missing codes stay in the denominator. We use full-precision weights, not the sum of rounded category percentages and not 100 minus “Never.”
For each of 50 replicate weights, we recompute numerator and denominator. SE = √[0.98 × sum of (replicate percentage − full-weight percentage)²]. This preserves covariance between categories when combining them; adding category SEs would be incorrect.
Our publication screen requires at least 50 selected and 50 complementary responses, total n ≥ 100 and relative SE ≤ 30%. All selected national estimates pass. These are Social Usage safeguards, not NCI cutoffs, and do not remove recall, coverage or nonresponse bias. No health-condition, demographic or respondent-level information is output.
HINTS 7 Methodology Report, chapter 1 and §5.5; Analysis Recommendations PDF pp4–9 in the public package.
Data period, source version and review
- Fieldwork
- March 25–September 16, 2024
- Recall window
- Past 12 months at the time of response
- Public-use package update
- August 2025; exact publication day unknown
- Original statistical retrieval
- October 1, 2026
- Assisted analysis review
- 2026-10-07
We reused the retained source package and the official source/rights evidence checked earlier on October 7. Preparing this page does not refresh the survey or change its original retrieval date. Assisted checks are not independent human editorial approval.
Citing and reusing this page
Copy the citation to retain NCI credit and our calculation attribution. This page offers no CSV, image export or embed. Respondent records, agency logos and source graphics are not republished. The separate national visit-frequency dataset has its own scoped permissions and measures a different question.
HINTS public-use guidance · NCI reuse policy. No NCI endorsement is implied.