{"id":301970,"date":"2026-05-07T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=301970"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:26:10","slug":"why-do-americans-get-information-from-health-and-wellness-influencers-and-how-do-they-find-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/data-labs\/2026\/05\/07\/why-do-americans-get-information-from-health-and-wellness-influencers-and-how-do-they-find-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do Americans get information from health and wellness influencers, and how do they find them?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
About this research<\/summary>\n

This study looks at health and<\/strong> wellness influencers<\/strong> \u2013 individuals with large audiences online who provide information about health and wellness, largely on social media. It includes an in-depth analysis of these influencers\u2019 social media presence, including who they are and how they describe themselves. It also takes a deep dive into Americans\u2019 experiences with getting health and wellness information from social media influencers and podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did we do this?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Medical professionals remain the most common source of health information<\/a> among U.S. adults. But many get information about their health from sources outside of the doctor\u2019s office, including social media. We conducted this study to better understand who the public might be hearing from when they get health and wellness information on social media and to explore the experiences and motivations of those who engage with this information on these sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we do this?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This analysis is based on two main data sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is an analysis of 12,800 social media accounts belonging to 6,828 prominent health and wellness influencers.<\/strong> The influencers included in the study have at least one account with more than 100,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok and post health and wellness content in English aimed at a U.S. audience (or are owned by the hosts of a top-ranked podcast that features this content). We analyzed their profiles to see who these influencers are and how they describe themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is more information about how we identified the influencers<\/a> included in this study and how we defined the different topics and categories<\/a> we measured in the analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second set of data comes from two surveys of U.S. adults that asked about their experiences getting health and wellness information from social media influencers and podcasts.<\/strong> One was conducted in June 2025 among 5,023 U.S. adults, and the other was conducted in October 2025 among 5,111 U.S. adults. Both were fielded on Pew Research Center\u2019s American Trends Panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the survey questions<\/a> used for this report, the detailed responses<\/a> and the survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Some 40% of U.S. adults say they ever get health and wellness information from social media influencers or podcasts. This analysis takes a deeper dive into the reasons Americans do this, how they come across these influencers and how they view the information these influencers offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the key takeaways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n