Lessons Learned at NIOSH: Using the Tools of Social Media to Build our Community of Practice

Social media applications can contribute to increased dissemination and partner engagement. The key question-how and in what manner can social media be used effectively to increase audience engagement and better disseminate impactful and relevant health and safety information and what platforms have the most measureable benefits? This presentation will report on early developments at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) using qualitative comparison data, click- thru metrics, content analysis of direct messages and focus group information on the use of four social media platforms, Wikipedia, Twitter, MySpace and the NIOSH Science Blog to deliver and measure the impact of occupational safety and health information and expand engagement with both professional and general audiences. Each social media platform provides unique opportunities and depending on the specific venue have unique measurable impacts: increasing web traffic to deliverers of key health information; reaching customers not generally targeted for health information; expanding overall reach and dissemination; targeting hard to reach audiences; expanding secondary (long-tail information); and increasing opportunities for expanded networking with traditional stakeholders and partners. Initial data suggest early evidence of useful communication impact and the importance of the development of a social media policy as part of an overall health and safety communication strategy. It is important to introduce decision makers to the concept of a social media and to provide ROI metrics that make the case that new media platforms contribute not just to health and safety goals but can effectively build our community of practice