POMELO: Protocol for Social Media Listening Online

This resource summarizes POMELO, the Protocol for sOcial Media listEning Online, in a structured, step-by-step questionnaire covering study setup, data collection, algorithm selection, and analysis, helping organizations apply social media listening in a consistent, transparent, and scalable way.

What is social media listening?

Social media data has been recognized by regulators such as the FDA and EMA as a valuable source of patient experience data, with social media listening emerging as a passive, observational method that uses algorithmic analysis to interpret insights voluntarily and publicly shared by patients across online platforms, forums, and communities.

However, clear methodological guidelines and best practices for generating rigorous evidence from this data have been lacking. To address this gap, the Pistoia Alliance’s Social Media for Real-World Evidence Expert Community Group is working to advance the responsible adoption of social media listening—ensuring that patient voices shared openly online are systematically captured, understood, and taken into account in drug development.

What is POMELO?

The Expert Community Group has developed POMELO to define key aspects that need to be considered when setting up a social media listening study and provides some guidance on important methodological choices. The protocol illustrates these aspects with an example social media listening study aimed at understanding how Type 2 Diabetes patients are affected by different co-morbidities. Details about POMELO are described in:

Cimiano P, Collins B, De Vuono MC, et al. 2024. Patient listening on social media for patient-focused drug development: a synthesis of considerations from patients, industry and regulators. Front. Med. 11:1274688. doi: 10.3389/fmed,2024.1274688

Cimiano P, Brazda N, Hartung M, et al. 2026. Best practices for the collection and analysis of patient experience data from social media for patient-focused drug development. Front. Med. 12:1703923. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1703923

For more information about the Social Media & Real-World Evidence project visit the project webpage.