Pictures should match words in social media safety messages

New York, Jan 1 : When using Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms to nudge people towards safe and healthy behaviour, it is critical to make sure the words match the pictures, says a new study.
After looking at social media posts, parents of young children were better able to recall safety messages such as how to put a baby safely to sleep when the images in the posts aligned with the messages in the text, said the study published in the Journal of Health Communication.
“Many times, scientists and safety experts aren’t involved in decisions about social media for health agencies and other organisations, and we end up seeing images that have nothing to do with the safety message or, worse, images that contradict the guidance,” said lead study author Liz Klein, Associate Professor at The Ohio State University in the US.
Take the safe sleep example, for instance.
The researchers found posts that advocated a bumper-free crib for the baby but used an image of an infant in a crib with bumpers.
They saw posts about preventing head injury with bike helmets illustrated by pictures of kids without bike helmets.