African American males & digital health

This abstract reflects both a review and forward view of connecting African American males and health messaging using the internet (and social media).

According to a 2010 survey by the Pew Research Center, 81% of U.S. adults use the internet and 59% say they have looked online for health information in the past year. Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults say they have gone online specifically to try to figure out what medical condition they or someone else might have. Even as ‘entertainment' continues to be the primary reason web users go online, there is a high need to connect African American males who are engaged on the web to health information, health resources, prevention education, etc. Social media is a good vehicle for engagement. For example, African Americans are more likely than whites to use twitter (2011 Pew Research survey). Cross-pollination of health content on social media and dynamic websites allow for reliable access to health content packaged in a way that's ‘digestible' and relevant.

This session will also discuss how health disparity and mortality trends for Black males require new health messaging paradigms in the intersection of health education, race, gender, and social media; And how meaningful public health campaigns differ from sustained multi-health topic (e.g. diabetes, cancer prevention, fitness, etc.) internet resources. The internet has the capacity to be the ‘equalizer' when it comes to health disparities similar to how public education was for de-segregated public schools. The early stage development and implementation process for healthyblackmen.org presents opportunities.