Archives of Current Research International

Gastrointestinal cancers are prominent contributors to the global cancer burden, while public understanding of symptoms, risk, screening, diagnosis and survivorship increasingly develops within social media environments. This review critically examines how social media analytics have been used to characterise gastrointestinal cancer awareness, how platform engagement relates to information quality and public trust, and which communication strategies are most defensible for improving digital engagement without equating popularity with public-health value. Peer-reviewed literature was sought across biomedical and multidisciplinary scholarly sources for publications from 2006 to 17 July 2026, supplemented by citation chaining and verification of bibliographic metadata and digital object identifiers. The evidence base is most developed for colorectal cancer, with growing work on gastric, pancreatic and liver cancers and comparatively sparse evidence for several other gastrointestinal malignancies. Across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Bilibili and Douyin, analytic approaches have progressed from hashtag counts and descriptive engagement metrics to thematic coding, quality appraisal and machine-learning-supported topic discovery. Yet the dominant literature remains cross-sectional, platform-specific and dependent on convenience samples such as highly ranked or highly liked posts. High engagement does not consistently indicate accuracy, completeness, actionability, representativeness or trust. Professional sources often achieve better quality scores, whereas patient narratives can generate stronger attention and relational relevance. These findings create a central communication tension: authoritative information may be less socially compelling, while emotionally resonant content may be incomplete or difficult to generalise. Evidence that social media exposure produces sustained screening or other health behaviour remains limited, despite feasibility studies showing that campaigns can move some users from reach to test requests or participation. The review proposes a shift from engagement-centred analytics towards public-value analytics that integrate reach, comprehension, credibility, trust, equity and verifiable behaviour. Future research should prioritise longitudinal, multilingual, cross-platform and intervention designs with transparent sampling, validated outcome measures and linkage to screening or care pathways. Social media can support gastrointestinal cancer awareness, but strategic value depends on evidence-calibrated communication, visible provenance, participatory trust-building and outcome evaluation beyond clicks.