The effects of visual formats on Facebook health-related posts: evidence from eye movement analysis

Purpose: This study aimed to provide user-centered evidence for health professionals to make optimal use of images for the effective dissemination of health information on Facebook (FB). Design/methodology/approach: Using an eye-tracking experiment and a survey method, this study examined 42 participants' reading patterns as well as recall and recognition outcomes with 36 FB health information posts having various FB post features. Findings: The findings demonstrated that FB posts with text-embedded images received more attention and resulted in the highest recall and recognition. Meanwhile, compared to text-embedded images, visual only images yielded less effective recall of information, but they caught the viewers' attention; graphics tended to attract more attention than photos. For effective communication, the text features in FB posts should align with the formats of the images. Practical implications: The findings of this study provide practical implications for health information disseminators by suggesting that text-embedded images should be used for effective health communication. Originality/value: This study provided evidence of users' different viewing patterns for FB health information posts and the relationship between FB post types and recall and recognition outcomes.