Isfahan University of Medical Sciences Health Information Management 1735-7853 15 6 2019 02 20 Opportunities and Challenges for Health Organizations in Using Social Networks: A Systematic Review Opportunities and Challenges for Health Organizations in Using Social Networks: A Systematic Review 300 307 11667 10.22122/him.v15i6.3758 FA Behzad Enjezab PhD Student, Business Management, Department of Business Management, School of Human Sciences, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran 0000-0002-1539-8176 Shahnaz Nayebzadeh Associate Professor, Business Management, Department of Business Management, School of Human Sciences, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran 0000-0003-1063-0631 Sayyed Hassan Hataminasab Assistant Professor, Business Management, Department of Business Management, School of Human Sciences, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran 0000-0002-3921-9857 Journal Article 2018 11 05 Introduction: The dramatic growth of Web 2.0 technologies and social networks provides a lot of potential for promoting health and health behavior change programs. Organizations and healthcare providers also play a major role in the use of this tool as the main contributors to these programs. This study aimed to assess published texts to identify opportunities and challenges in the use of social networks in healthcare organizations.Methods: In a systematic review study, we assessed published articles between January 2008 and July 2018 using related keywords in Emerald, ScienceDirect, Springer, Wiley, Magiran, SID, Irandoc and PubMed databases.Results: Fifteen opportunities and six challenges were identified for healthcare organizations. The opportunities for these organizations included informational support, social support, searching for instrumental support, reduction of organizational costs, provision of patient satisfaction, real-time client monitoring, accessing a new atmosphere for communication with clients, educating clients, branding, knowledge management, increased access to specific clients, encouraging behavioral changes, direct communication with clients, instant communication with clients, and identification of opportunities for improving quality within organizations. And also the facing challenges included one-way communication, lack of expertise in the area of information technology and in proper client interaction, protecting the privacy of clients, poor understanding perception of the public, negative comments by patients and ultimately, more follow-ups by other organizations rather than individuals.Conclusion: The identification of the opportunities and challenges provides the possibility of more favorable planning and operation of these networks by policymakers and managers of health organizations. Introduction: The dramatic growth of Web 2.0 technologies and social networks provides a lot of potential for promoting health and health behavior change programs. Organizations and healthcare providers also play a major role in the use of this tool as the main contributors to these programs. This study aimed to assess published texts to identify opportunities and challenges in the use of social networks in healthcare organizations.Methods: In a systematic review study, we assessed published articles between January 2008 and July 2018 using related keywords in Emerald, ScienceDirect, Springer, Wiley, Magiran, SID, Irandoc and PubMed databases.Results: Fifteen opportunities and six challenges were identified for healthcare organizations. The opportunities for these organizations included informational support, social support, searching for instrumental support, reduction of organizational costs, provision of patient satisfaction, real-time client monitoring, accessing a new atmosphere for communication with clients, educating clients, branding, knowledge management, increased access to specific clients, encouraging behavioral changes, direct communication with clients, instant communication with clients, and identification of opportunities for improving quality within organizations. And also the facing challenges included one-way communication, lack of expertise in the area of information technology and in proper client interaction, protecting the privacy of clients, poor understanding perception of the public, negative comments by patients and ultimately, more follow-ups by other organizations rather than individuals.Conclusion: The identification of the opportunities and challenges provides the possibility of more favorable planning and operation of these networks by policymakers and managers of health organizations. https://him.mui.ac.ir/article_11667_fc5c0cd21ddca3b39da73342bc41752c.pdf