David Deandrea, associate professor, communication, and Megan Vendemia, doctoral student, communication, recently authored a study examining pharmaceutical advertising on social media. The goal was to examine a) how disclosing an affiliation with a pharmaceutical company affects how people respond to drug information produced by both health organizations and online commenters and b) how knowledge that health organizations control the display of user-generated comments affects consumer health knowledge and behavior.

They found when information sources are affiliated with pharmaceutical companies and user-generated comments are being strategically removed, people are significantly more likely to trust the pharmaceutical information they view and share information with others both online and offline. Their findings are published online in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.