Which social media platforms facilitate monitoring the opioid crisis?

Which social media platforms facilitate monitoring the opioid crisis? PLOS digital health Carpenter, K. A., Nguyen, A. T., Smith, D. A., Samori, I. A., Humphreys, K., Lembke, A., Kiang, M. V., Eichstaedt, J. C., Altman, R. B. 2025; 4 (4): e0000842

Abstract

Social media can provide real-time insight into trends in substance use, addiction, and recovery. Prior studies have used platforms such as Reddit and X (formerly Twitter), but evolving policies around data access have threatened these platforms' usability in research. We evaluate the potential of a broad set of platforms to detect emerging trends in the opioid use disorder and overdose epidemic. From these, we identified 11 high-potential platforms, for which we documented policies regulating drug-related discussion, data accessibility, geolocatability, and prior use in opioid-related studies. We quantified their volume of opioid discussion, including in informal language by including slang generated using a large language model. Beyond the most commonly used Reddit and X/Twitter, the platforms with high potential for use in opioid-related surveillance are TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. Leveraging a variety of social platforms, instead of merely one, yields broader subpopulation representation and safeguards against reduced data access in any single platform.

View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000842

View details for PubMedID 40293990

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12036940