Health Care In A “Social Media” WorldSummer Institute Course: Health CommunicationNorthwest Center for Public Health Practice11 August 2011

Kathy E. Gill @kegill

@

80%

41%

@Goals For TodayExamine how social digital technologies,

specifically Twitter and Facebook, are affecting how health-related organizations communicate with their constituencies, and think about emerging technologies like Google+ as well as secure email

Examine the types of communications goals that should incorporate these technologies

Understand the importance of mobile communication

Walk away with some best practices

What Are Social Media?

Technology that enables us to

communicate with one other and share information publicly

@Dramatic Growth In U.S. Hospitals Using Digital Social Networking Tools

2010 (540) v 2011 (1,188)

http://ebennett.org/hsnl/

June 8, 2011

January 10, 2010

A Not-Far-Fetched Scenario

1. Why Digital Social Media? Mobile

@

@

@Mobile Facts100M smartphones sold worldwide in 2009; 429M in

the second quarter of 2011

December 2010, almost half of U.S. mobile subscribers had SMS or data plans; almost 1/3 had unlimited data plans

About 1-in-6 American mobile phone owners had a smartphone 4th quarter 2009; that was 1-in-4 by 4th quarter 2010 and 1-in-4 of those had an iPhone, 1-in-3 had a Blackberry

Smartphones to overtake feature phone sales in 2011

Top mobile activities

@2. Social Digital NetworksTwitter

Facebook

Foursquare

GooglePlus

Secure email

@As of July 2011: * 96 Twitter accounts * 64 Facebook accounts * 41 podcasts * 32 blogs * 24 YouTube channels * 9 Flickr accounts

https://twitter.com/jayw329/status/3192821225

@A New GenrePrivate messages made public

Broadcast and/or Converse

Follow versus Friend (not a reciprocal network)

D versus @ versus RT

Nibble v Full Course

Favorites and Lists

#hashtags

Verified Accounts

TweetStats – H1N1 Spike

http://tweetstats.com/graphs/cdcemergency

http://twitter.com/mayoclinic/status/3472338383

http://twitter.com/SouthcoastHosp/status/3107634186

@hashtags

Broadcast Is Better Than Nothing (and

essential in emergency).

Twitter Has Become The Place For News But Can Be Used For

Engagement

@140 Health Care Uses For TwitterExamples from Phil Baumann

Tissue recruitment Blood glucose tracking (diabetes management) Drug safety alerts (FDA) Crowdsourcing health care resources Daily health tips Domestic violence awareness Asthma alerts Food safety alerts

Top Social Properties

@

@

@

@

@

@

@FourSquareLocation-based services

Brainstorm

http://foursquare.com/business/

@GooglePlus“In-between” Twitter and Facebook

Currently, only individuals (not organizations) Fastest-growing digital social network

Benefits of “circles” for health care professionals

Benefits from Google install base

+1 Button (and search)

@Why Google Matters

Google Pluse Health Care Hangout

@Secure email Importance of subject lines

Importance of “from” description

Training nursing staff

Information for patients

@3. Best PracticesTake ownership if there is a vacuum in your organization

Understand the social media landscape – play before planning if you want a persuasive business case At least 70% of journalists now use social networks for

reporting

Customer experience should be priority one

Set goals! Profile audience Set objectives Develop strategies

Test, evaluate, revise; then do it again!

@

@Remember:The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ruled

that postings on any social media network can be saved by on-line background companies for up to seven years.

@Take-Aways Inexpensive, Immediate, Personal

Hard to measure, easy to mis-use

Mobile devices will soon to be key gateway to our digital world – ubiquitous connectivity is in our lifetimes

@Credits Examples from forthcoming book, Brands L.E.A.P. Into Twitter,

edited by Kathy E. Gill (@kegill). Some hospital examples based on work by Anita Beninger (@anitamedia)

Locked gate : http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenerat/51022600/

Modem: http://www.wa4dsy.net/heatherington/hayes/page4.html

Network: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-12290595-people-networking-concept.php

Woman with mobile phone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesjustin/2894092846/

Man with mobile phone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blindscapes/3621995479/

Three generations with mobile phone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olliesphotos/333193604/

@CC License

Share&share alike, attribution, non-commercial

Kathy E. Gill http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill or

@kegill, @kegill_uw http://wiredpen.com/ and

http://slideshare.net/kegill

Course Info: http://www.nwcphp.org/training/summer-institute/health-communication