Health Communication on TikTok : A Qualitative Study of Credibility on A Humorous Platform

Sammanfattning: The video-sharing platform TikTok has gained popularity over the last few years. During the recent Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok was implemented in health communication strategies to target a younger audience. The platform's humorous and entertaining jargon is somewhat contradictory to the intentions of health communication. The purpose of this study was to provide insights into how TikTok has functioned as a forum for health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic, and whether the humorous jargon has affected users’ trust. The intention is that the results will be useful guidance for health communicators if similar occurrences are to happen in the future. To fulfil the purpose, the main question “How is the perceived credibility of health communication affected by the humorous jargon on TikTok?” was formulated. Two sub-questions were added to provide a further understanding of how the platform has functioned as a forum for health communication, and how it can be refined; “What do users think of the platform as a forum for health communication?” and “How can health communication on TikTok be improved?”. The theoretical framework consisted of two related theories which are vital in the evaluation of reliability in communication. Firstly, the theory of source credibility concerns the audience’s trust in a communicator. Secondly, message credibility refers to the audience’s trust in a message. Qualitative interviews were considered a suitable method to apply to arrive at answers to the research questions. The method allowed to gather material on TikTok users’ experiences and motives concerning the subject of study. The results from eight interviews with Swedish users aged between 19-25 revealed that the humorous jargon on TikTok lessens the perceived credibility in health communication which is presented in a serious way. However, credibility is heightened when humour is used in health communication on the platform. Moreover, the study showed that TikTok is a valuable platform to implement in health communication strategies, especially to target younger people. Additionally, the potential for improvement concerning TikTok as a forum for health communication involves a greater presence of expert sources, further implementation of humour, and platform-tailored presentation of information.