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websites outperformed social media in 9 of the 10 most
important criteria used to evaluate and select a medium
(Table 3). Second, websites appeared to better match
consumers' priorities in media selection when looking
for foodborne illness outbreak information. In fact, 14%
to 78% of participants indicated that websites performed
better in the three most important priorities they have when
selecting a medium (Table 3). For example, consumers
placed high value on a good search function, and websites
generally provided better search capabilities, including the
use of indexing. Social media, in contrast, provided superior
functionality in areas that consumers believed to be less
important, such as interactivity. Third, social media may
have appeared to be overwhelming to consumers trying
to locate needed information quickly. In agreement with
these results, Robert and Dennis (49) have suggested that
social media can hinder the motivation and the ability to
process the information communicated, e.g., because of
high social presence. Fourth, consumers may not have been
aware of the use and potential of social media in obtaining
this kind of information. Consumers currently regard social
media as a tool for socializing rather than information
seeking (2, 18). Furthermore, despite the growth of social
media adoption (for example, Facebook is now being used
by a number of health departments, including the New
York State Health Department), social media have not yet
been widely used in general food safety communications
(28). Fifth, websites may be more appealing to consumers
because they may be perceived to be more secure. For
example, websites are less likely to track user data, as users
generally do not need to "log in" to view information.
Additionally, results of this study suggest that consumers
not only prefer to use websites but are, to a certain extent,
unlikely to use social media to obtain foodborne illness
outbreak information. This may be due largely to the
interactive and participative (user-generated content)
nature of social media. While this allows collective
intelligence to be harnessed, information quality and
accuracy in social media cannot be guaranteed, and the
trustworthiness of the source is difficult to evaluate. With
a pressing need to obtain the most accurate, timely, and
specific information available, consumers prefer to use
a website. Thus, despite social media's other benefits
(speed, ease of use, and ability to get more personalized
information), it is not the preferred information media.
Social media may be more suitable as supplements to
websites. For example, they could be used to send updates
with links to websites with the most current information,
thus serving as a "shortcut" that directs consumers to
websites with more detailed information.
Consumer preferences for websites may be good news for
entities such as health departments and other government
agencies, because websites afford greater flexibility in
designing and controlling feature availability, including

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the search function. While social media features are
largely designed by the holding company - for example,
Facebook designs the look and the search functionality on a
Facebook page - website feature designs are almost always
in the hands of the account holder. As such, entities may
better match consumer preferences by using their websites
rather than social media and thus be more effective in
communicating foodborne illness outbreak information.
The results of this study have important implications for
resource allocation. Agencies may want to focus their efforts
on improving users' website experiences. In particular,
providing a better search experience to locate needed
information quickly and effortlessly should become a
priority. Providing an advanced search function that allows
targeted searches (e.g., sort by dates, locations, food sources,
types of illness, etc.) may also be desirable.
Websites could perhaps be even more attractive to
consumers if they provided not only searchability but
some aspects of interactivity as well. The results of this
study indicate that consumers prefer opportunities to
offer feedback, functions that allow them to sign up for
newsletters, and options for following updates on RSS feed
on websites. Such functionality would also help to build
relationships with the public.
Social media may still have potential in foodborne illness
outbreak communication, but additional research is needed
to determine whether they should be used purely as an
extension of websites - e.g., posting links to websites -
or whether they could enhance communication beyond
what can be accomplished via websites. This study suggests
that future scholarly efforts may want to focus on studying
Facebook's potential. Twitter, despite being suggested as a
feasible alternative, was not the preferred platform in this
study, because Twitter's maximum of 140 words does not
allow detailed information (links are almost always used).
Because information quality is highly valued by consumers, providing high-quality information (information
that is accurate, up-to-date, and trustworthy) should still
be the most important priority in communicating foodborne illness outbreak information. When information
quality is maintained, consumers are flexible about where
they get this information. This reinforces the potential of
using Internet-based platforms in reducing costs and saving
resources. However, this study also showed that a small percentage of consumers do not want to use the Internet to find
foodborne illness outbreak information. This group is highly
concerned about information accuracy and trustworthiness,
and the Internet presents them with challenges in evaluating
the accuracy and trustworthiness of the information communicated. This indicates that, although powerful, the Internet
will not completely replace traditional media. Agencies may
want to use the Internet as a supplement or extension to traditional media, for example, alerting consumers about an outbreak through television and providing the name of a website

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - July/August 2017