197447 Using Social Media for Health Communication

Wednesday, November 11, 2009: 9:30 AM

Ann Aikin, MA , National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA
Erin Edgerton, MA , National Center for Health Marketing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Janice Nall, MBA , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Carol Crawford, MPA , Divison of eHealth Marketing, CDC, Atlanta, GA
Scott Mullins , CDC, Atlanta, GA
  
Social media, sometimes call “new media” or “Web 2.0”, allows communicators to present health information in engaging ways. Through the effective use of social media, health communication specialists can leverage the immense popularity of new media and develop innovative products that encourage healthy and safe behaviors in target audiences. Learn how CDC has leveraged social media in its communication campaigns and see examples of how a variety of social media tools, including blogs, widgets, social networks, and mobile applications, have been integrated to create comprehensive campaign products. Examples from recent and ongoing campaigns will be given, including seasonal flu, pandemic flu, hurricane preparedness, and emergency response. By effectively utilizing these new tools, public health professionals can add innovative communication elements to traditional media campaigns, create new engagement strategies, and empower target audiences to become advocates among their peers. Evaluation metrics, research gaps, and future trends for social media will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives:
- Define social media and discuss how these tools can be used for health communication. - Describe how social media and traditional media components can be integrated to form a comprehensive health communication campaign. - Discuss strategies for developing innovative social media communication campaigns that encourage health behavior change.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in health marketing on the Interactive Media Team and lead the new media research activities, and develop innovative health communications products and social media strategy that engage users and expand the reach of CDC’s science. Additionally, I lead the social media strategy and content development for CDC’s emergency communications responses, including the novel H1N1 pandemic.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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