> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fdaweb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Mixed Social Media Use of Drug Safety Communications
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/mixed-social-media-use-of-drug-safety-communications/
- Published: 2018-01-10T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T23:12:34.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5140457

Researchers say that an initial drug safety communication on Sanofi-Aventis’ Ambien (zolpidem) issued by FDA 1/10/13 received significant social media uptake online, while a second communication on 5/14/13 showed almost no social media use. The [study](http://publichealth.jmir.org/2018/1/e1/?ref=fdaweb.com#ref18http://publichealth.jmir.org/2018/1/e1/), reported in *JMIR Public Health and Surveillance*, looked at dissemination of the two drug safety communications through Twitter, Facebook, Google searches, and Wikipedia.

“Social media may provide a timely, singular update about changes to important prescribing information, but social media discussions are generally short-lived, while information on the proper use of a medicine needs to be available consistently,” the study says. “Future strategies for using social media should be based on a more detailed understanding of user profiles and preferences. FDA may develop multiple approaches to disseminating drug safety communication messages, including posting the same information multiple times, because a single post may often be overlooked by followers.”