The structure of Facebook and its development in Germany
Facebook is one of the largest social platforms in the world and plays a central role in digital communication. With over 2.8 billion monthly active users worldwide, Facebook is a platform that connects people, exchanges opinions and shares information. In Germany, around 32 million people are active on Facebook, making the platform an important channel for social interactions and information exchange. 【1】
Recently, the use of Facebook in Germany has changed. While the number of younger users has decreased, the number of older users is steadily growing. This is because Facebook not only serves as a social network, but also as a source of news and a means of communication for different age groups.
Facebook's functions have also evolved to meet the needs of users. New features such as Facebook Stories, Marketplace and Groups have helped to keep the platform attractive. The demographic development, which could reduce the relevance of Facebook in Germany in the long term, makes the platform particularly relevant for the moment for any medical indications that affect patients aged 40+.
Interaction options and their relevance for pharmacovigilance
Facebook offers a variety of opportunities for interaction that make appropriate pharmacovigilance monitoring essential. These include comments, guest posts and private messages that may contain potentially reportable events.
Comments:
Comments are one of the most common forms of interaction on Facebook. Users can comment on posts by companies, organizations or other users. Comments on posts by a pharmaceutical company are of particular interest to pharmacovigilance, as users often share personal experiences with medications. Such comments can provide evidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). It is important that these comments are regularly monitored to identify and report potential PV events. A systematic approach to monitoring and analyzing comments can not only help to identify potential safety issues at an early stage, but also reveal valuable information about your target audience.
Guest contributions:
Guest posts, also known as user-generated content (UGC), are posts posted by users on company pages or in groups. While most companies do not allow or disable guest posts, these posts, if not blocked, can contain detailed accounts of personal experiences with medications. Guest posts often provide more detailed information than comments and can provide specific data on ADRs and their circumstances. Systematic monitoring and evaluation of these posts is essential for regulatory compliance and can provide important insights into the safety and effectiveness of medications.
Private messages:
Private messages provide a direct and personal means of communication between users and companies. While many users use this feature for personal conversations, information about ADRs can also be shared here. It is necessary for companies to have an effective system for monitoring and documenting such messages to ensure that no relevant information is missed. Since private messages can contain sensitive information, it is important to strictly adhere to data protection policies and protect user privacy.
Special features of the Facebook platform for PV monitoring
While META provides an interface for retrieving comments, it can by no means be described as reliable. Changes to the interface, which META makes frequently and irregularly, must always be kept in mind in order to enable the retrieval of comments reliably.
There are also a number of interaction options on Facebook pages, such as the so-called page ratings, which are rarely used but still allow free text. Due to the complexity of the platform, which has grown over a long period of time, changes or additions to these interaction options can easily be overlooked, so it is crucial for pharmacovigilance monitoring to keep a close eye on them.
Monitoring with evalii
In summary, Facebook is still an important platform in Germany today. Through systematic monitoring of comments, guest posts and private messages, potential PV events can be identified and reported at an early stage, as required by law.
evalii offers you the opportunity to efficiently monitor your Facebook projects & campaigns and ensure that no relevant information is overlooked. With evalii you can take advantage of modern technologies to optimize your patient communication and ensure the safety of your products.
Sources:
【1】 [Statista: Number of Facebook users in Germany](https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/221041/umfrage/anzahl-der-facebook-nutzer-in-deutschland/)
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