Commentary on trending now: future directions in digital media for the public health sector

Burke-Garcia and Scally1 write about the exciting opportunities for the public health sector that may be achieved using digital media. Zeal for the use of digital media in public health is legitimate, and experience and literature on the topic is constantly expanding. It is necessary for the public health sector to engage with these technologies, which allow organizations to maximize impact and reach while spending less money and using fewer resources. Organizations that promote the use of products that may have detrimental effects on health are already vigorously pursuing digital avenues,2,3 therefore reaching the wide and potentially vulnerable audience as described in ref. 1. However, to balance the enthusiasm for digitalizing public health practice, I will present some caveats for consideration.