BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES A key aspect of the Internet that facilitates research is social media, especially the meteoric rise in the use of Facebook as one of the primary applications for social connectivity. Facebook can be considered a rich source of data due to the high amounts of demographic information shared by users and stored in the system, as well as the way in which users share their thoughts and behaviour in their natural environment. This report focuses on one functionality that as yet remained under-discussed and perhaps under-utilised as a tool in health research - the ability for participants or interested parties to leave comments directly on Facebook posts relating to research projects. Further, this report provides some considerations for researchers intending to use Facebook in recruiting participants for research. METHODS The study was a Bowel Cancer Awareness Study conducted by the Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania to assess bowel cancer risk awareness in Tasmania. Participants were recruited to complete a survey on LimeSurveyTM via a Facebook page used to advertise the study. Several comments were made on the Facebook page over a three-month period, which were then further categorised and thematically analysed. Specifically, these comments were reviewed to determine how valuable Facebook comments can be for research. RESULTS The Facebook advertisement for the survey reached 136,640 people at a cost of $0.04 (4 cents) per person. From the range of comments received, four separate functions of these comments became apparent upon analysis - the capacity to ask questions, the ability to interact with others, promotion of the survey, and suggestions for future research. DISCUSSION From the bowel cancer awareness study, we found that Facebook comments on our study page allowed for an opportunity for ongoing contact with respondents, opportunity to receive feedback, address concerns and harness future research ideas. The ability to further utilize the potential for Facebook comments to enrich data collection and health research warrants a continuous and sustained interest, as research methodology progressively utilises the Internet and social media platforms as an effective and affordable option.

中文翻译：

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喜欢，评论，标记，分享：Facebook在健康研究中的互动。

背景和目标促进研究的互联网的一个关键方面是社交媒体，尤其是Facebook作为社交连接的主要应用之一的使用迅速增长。由于用户共享并存储在系统中的大量人口统计信息以及用户在自然环境中分享想法和行为的方式，Facebook被认为是丰富的数据源。这份报告的重点是一种尚未被充分讨论甚至可能未被充分利用的健康研究工具的功能-参与者或感兴趣的参与者在与研究项目有关的Facebook帖子上直接发表评论的能力。此外，本报告为打算使用Facebook招募参与者进行研究的研究人员提供了一些注意事项。方法该研究是塔斯马尼亚大学农村卫生中心进行的一项肠癌意识研究，旨在评估塔斯马尼亚的肠癌风险意识。招募参与者通过用于宣传研究的Facebook页面完成LimeSurveyTM上的调查。在三个月的时间里，Facebook页面上发表了一些评论，然后进一步进行分类和主题分析。具体来说，对这些评论进行了审查，以确定Facebook的评论对研究的价值。结果用于该调查的Facebook广告达到136,640人，每人成本为0.04美元（4美分）。从收到的评论的范围来看，这些评论的四个独立功能在分析后变得很明显：提出问题的能力，与他人互动的能力，促进调查，和未来研究的建议。讨论通过对肠癌的认识研究，我们发现研究页面上的Facebook评论提供了与受访者持续联系的机会，有机会获得反馈，解决疑虑并利用未来的研究思路。随着研究方法逐渐利用互联网和社交媒体平台作为一种有效且负担得起的选择，进一步利用Facebook评论的潜力来丰富数据收集和健康研究的能力值得持续不断的关注。