title: Can Twitter improve your health? An analysis of alcohol consumption guidelines on Twitter.
abstract: This article is the first in the feature to highlight the social network site Twitter as a tool for health information and it reports on a study by Emma Hughes, who completed an MSc in information and library studies at Aberystwyth University in 2014. Emma's research investigated the quality of health information available on Twitter, in particular the information available on UK alcohol consumption guidelines. Her research suggests that users searching for this information would need certain literacy skills to interpret it correctly. However, there is no doubt that Twitter is an increasingly popular resource for information dissemination and health professionals, and organisations should be encouraged to use it frequently as a tool for sharing information. AM.
authors.affiliation: UK Health Forum, London, UK. emma.hughes@ukhealthforum.org.uk.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control*; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: United Kingdom; consumer health information; information literacy; information retrieval; public health; social media