Successful and Cost-Effective Facebook Recruitment: Is It Possible? Results From a Longitudinal Randomized Clinical Trial in Grandmother Caregivers.

Facebook is often cited in health-related research as a practical option to recruit participants into research studies, but issues with recruiting verifiable and qualified participants and unpredictable costs exist. The purpose of this paper is to describe a social network theory-guided, no-cost, Facebook recruitment strategy in comparison to a traditional recruitment campaign for a national online intervention study for grandmother caregivers (n = 348); 211 participants were recruited via Facebook, and 137 through traditional techniques. Participation rates did not vary by recruitment method. Facebook participants were slightly older, higher income, and more likely to be white and married, but did not differ in education levels. Our strategy quickly obtained an engaged and committed participant base. The application of social network theory to traditional recruitment strategies represents a novel way for researchers to recruit through Facebook and yield viable and engaged participants without investing in Facebook ads.