Tweeting up a storm: The centers for disease control and prevention's (CDC) social media messaging and Hurricane Sandy

Background: As use of web-enabled mobile devices equipped with social media applications has become so prevalent, it's now possible to reach people in the path of natural disasters with important messaging faster than ever before. As Hurricane Sandy approached landfall in late 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) assisted state and local public health partners by developing and sharing storm-related messaging across several social media channels, including an SMS text subscription service to directly reach those affected by the storm. Implementation Strategy/ Outcomes/ Future questions: CDC determined what topics would need coverage each day, ranging from preparing for the storm's arrival, to post-storm safety and clean-up. Once our messages were posted each day, they were retweeted across several official CDC Twitter profiles and via the profiles of local health departments. Leveraging social media proved successful in driving a steady increase in traffic to CDC emergency response web pages. For example, a message about safe clean-up of mold produced 14,881 visits. The NCEH Twitter audience also increased as followers numbered 4,226 at the beginning of October, and growing to 5,215 in November- a 23% increase.While social media is an essential tool for 21st century communication during and after emergencies and natural disasters, obtaining metrics as to how many people actually apply the information shared via social media proves challenging.