Stem cells on YouTube: National vs international content

Abstract

YouTube is one of the most popular video-based social media sites across the globe. The role of stem cell transplant has not been deeply explored on YouTube. The current narrative review was planned to assess the viewership of content available on YouTube related to stem cells. The videos were classified based on type of content, duration, number of views, comments and number of likes. A total of 40 videos were downloaded under the search terms “stem cells in Pakistan” and “stem cells”. Of them, 6(15%) were repeat videos, and 34(85%) were unique. The findings revealed that in 10(25%) most viewed videos from Pakistan, 6(60%) contained opinions from non-expert physicians. Among the 10(25%) most viewed international videos, the information providers were science educators in 4(40%) videos and researchers in 2 (20%). Notably, no content from Pakistan was present among the top relevant international videos.

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