Hashtag: Public Health

School of Nursing hosts symposium focusing on social media in public health

• By Jessica Bagwell
• March 2, 2016

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin and Western University collaborated to host the 2016 International Symposium on the Implementation of Social Media in Population and Community Health Initiatives.  The symposium, which was designed specifically for professionals and clinicians in public health wishing to learn more about social media strategy, was held in Austin, Texas. 

 

“Social media is still an evolving medium; however, the importance of this communication medium cannot be overlooked,” said Susan McBride, Ph.D., RN-BC, CPHIMS, TTUHSC School of Nursing professor. “More importantly, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat reach relevant audiences.”

 

McBride explained that social media was a great way to engage patients and the community about their health because it’s a tool already in use by many people. McBride explained that so many people use social media to connect with family, find news and entertainment and even learn.

 

“It should be a tool that is utilized to collaborate with other professionals as well,” McBride said. “Professionals should be working together to understand what works, what doesn’t.”

 

Social media is popular. In fact, there are more than 1 billion Facebook users and 288 million active Twitter users, which are only two on the ever-growing list of available social media platforms. Social media’s popularity makes it an ideal place for public health experts to distribute information concerning the health of populations. However, as social media changes, public health experts must develop an ongoing strategy for using it. Moreover, the diversity of available platforms makes it critically important when addressing public health topics to know how to reach a particular demographic. In other words, experts are asking if Facebook, Twitter or another platform is the best possible social media site on which to share important messages.

 

“Snapchat, for example, is very popular among teenagers,” McBride said. “So, we might tailor health care messages on Snapchat to that audience. Demographics with other health care concerns, such as pregnant moms concerned with the recent Zika virus outbreak, might use another social media platform, which is where we would relay messages related to the outbreak.”

 

McBride also explained that research in the area of utilizing social media for public health is ongoing and needs to continue evolving as quickly as social media itself.

 

“Social media trends come and go, and what’s popular one month might be replaced the next,” McBride said. “The key to remaining effective in using social media for public health is to be aware of current trends.”

 

“We need to do a better job toward the planning and evaluation of social media in order to ensure this modality of communication continues to serve program recipients in an effective, convenient and ethical manner,” said Leanne Field, Ph.D., distinguished senior lecturer and director of the Health Informatics and Health Information Technology program at The University of Texas at Austin.

 

The symposium also brought unique perspectives public health organization in different regions and countries have on developing and implementing a social media strategy. For example, representatives from Western University explained the progression of social media use in public health in Canada.

 

“From a Canadian perspective, social media has been used for public health communication since 2009,” explained Richard Booth, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Western University Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing. “Canada has also witnessed sizeable amounts of adoption in the population and public health system over the last four years.”

 

Social media was at work in the symposium as well. The event was promoted through a calculated social media campaign, which further demonstrated the potential impact of social media.

 

“It was an enormous success with 1.2 million unique Twitter reaches,” McBride said. “And, we had over than 140 participants from all over Texas, the U.S. and Canada.”

 

In addition to being an interprofessional learning event, the symposium was also focused on collaboratively articulating the latest best practices for implementing social media strategy in public health.

 

“The end goal of the symposium was a white paper describing a comprehensive roadmap for implementation and evaluation for use of social media in public and population health initiatives,” McBride said. “Professionals worked together to understand what works and what doesn’t. We wanted to draft a plan to share information across all sectors and increase awareness and ultimately have a positive impact on the health of all communities.”

 

And, it wasn’t all professional knowledge exchanged at the event. Some visitors to the Lone Star State during the symposium also got a taste of Texas culture.

 

“We had a lot of fun,” McBride said. “We even presented our Canadian colleague, Dr. Booth, with a Texas cowboy hat, which he wore proudly.”