ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Health Communications and Behavior Change
Assessment and Analysis of Content and Quality of Children's Influenza Vaccine Information on BiliBili, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu
Provisionally accepted
- 1Woman and Children’s Hospital, Qingdao, China
- 2Yantaishan Hospital, Yantai, Shandong Province, China
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Background: Influenza vaccines are crucial for preventing illnesses and reducing flu-related healthcare utilization. Douyin, BiliBili, and Xiaohongshu—mainstream short video platforms in mainland China—are flooded with children’s influenza vaccine content, yet its quality remains unevaluated. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the quality and reliability of children’s influenza vaccine videos on these three platforms. Methods: A cross-sectional design was adopted. In February 2025, the research team searched the mainland China versions of the three platforms using the keyword “children's influenza vaccine,” selecting 300 videos (100 per platform) for analysis. Basic video information, content, and sources were extracted. Two independent reviewers evaluated quality using the JAMA benchmarks, modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) criteria, and Global Quality Score (GQS). Results: Content sources varied by platform: professionals and lay users dominated Douyin and Xiaohongshu, while non-profit organizations led on BiliBili. Douyin achieved significantly higher user engagement (likes, comments, favorites, shares; p < 0.001) than the other two platforms. Overall quality scores strongly correlated with comment volume (Spearman ρ = 0.90, p < 0.001), with moderate but significant correlations with likes (ρ = 0.77) and favorites (ρ = 0.73, both p < 0.001). Health professionals’ videos scored highest, ordinary-user videos lowest (p < 0.001), and no significant quality differences existed among the three scoring systems. Conclusion: The three platforms provide moderately rated children’s influenza vaccine content. Viewers should exercise caution, and platforms/creators must improve content quality to boost vaccination rates. These efforts offer new perspectives for health education, enhance public vaccination awareness, and contribute to public health.
Keywords: influenza vaccine, Child, Information quality, Social Media, Short videos
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 20 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yuan and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yi Yuan, 1767513782@qq.com
Xiaowei Chen, qdfesjwk@126.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.