Social media influence on healthcare utilization: WeChat use and healthcare facility choices among Chinese older adults

Population aging presents substantial challenges for healthcare systems worldwide, making it essential to understand older adults' healthcare utilization patterns. While social media has emerged as an important source of health information for older adults, its influence on healthcare facility choice remains underexplored in this high-stakes population. Using data from the 2020 and 2022 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we focus on WeChat, a dominant social media platform in China, and explore its impacts on older adults’ choices across healthcare facility levels. We find that WeChat users demonstrate stronger preferences for higher-tier facilities, especially for older adults living in urban regions and those with health insurance coverage. Paradoxically, despite gravitating toward higher-tier facilities, WeChat users report lower satisfaction with both facility conditions and service quality. These findings contribute to the digital health behavior literature by documenting how social media platforms shape healthcare utilization patterns among older adults. The results have important implications for policymakers addressing healthcare delivery challenges in contexts characterized by concurrent digitalization and demographic transition.
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