Social media use in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors

• Most AYA cancer survivors use social media, yet scholarly efforts to examine utility for supporting AYA survivors have only emerged recently.
• In addition to intervention development, research must consider prominent online communities (e.g., Facebook Groups) devoted to cancer-related needs.
• Innovative observational methods (e.g., NLP assisted data mining) complement traditional approaches to help understand actual use of social media communities for AYA survivors.

Cancer remains the leading cause of disease-related death in the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) population. AYA cancer survivors face unique challenges, particularly social–psychological impacts in identity development, coping, distress, and social relationships. Given the high prevalence of Internet use and social media engagement, AYA survivors and clinicians and organizations charged with their care are increasingly turning to social media and other technology-mediated platforms. While there has been limited empirical evidence on the utility of social media in addressing AYA survivors’ needs, the last 5–6 years have experienced a growth in online, technology-mediated advocacy, and patient organizations and related publications. This review highlights key research and practical efforts, their impacts to date, and discusses future directions.