Creating conversation: how Bell Let's Talk produces engaging mental health content on Twitter

This pilot study explores how Bell Let’s Talk, a mental health initiative to foster positive conversation about mental health in Canada, uses Twitter to disseminate mental health messages with the intention of increasing awareness and reducing stigma. A content analysis was conducted of 89 tweets posted by the official Bell Let’s Talk Twitter account, @Bell_LetsTalk between December 1, 2016 and January 31, 2017 to establish the overall engagement of content, examine which content receives the highest engagement and establish which message function creates most conversation. The results suggest Bell Let’s Talk produces medium engagement content. The majority of tweets feature a non-celebrity influencer (n=37) or non-influencer (n=37). However, celebrity content had the highest level of engagement (mdn=1102). Of the communication features used, links were the most frequently utilized (n=52). Public-centric topics (n=45) were the most common type of tweet, yet organizational-centric action tweets received the highest level of engagement (mdn=1382). The results of this pilot study suggest Bell Let’s Talk produces content of medium. They also indicate there is potential for further research to build upon and improve health professionals’ knowledge regarding successful content about mental health on Twitter.