Recently the Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation released the findings of an extensive national survey revealing that 80% of Internet users look online for health information. While that figure may not be surprising it is useful to look at the areas of search themselves. The following are some key items from the report: 24% of internet users look online for information about drug safety or recalls. 19% of internet users look online for information about pregnancy and … [Read more...]
Social Media Use in the United States: Implications for Health Communication
As some people are aware I have a keen interest in medical communication after working with cancer institutes and currently with a mental health organisation so I was interested to see this article in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (2009;11/4). The following is a summary of that study from the article: Background: Given the rapid changes in the communication landscape brought about by participative Internet use and social media, it is important to develop a better understanding of … [Read more...]
US Crowdsources ideas for Swine Flu PSA
The US Govt has embraced crowdsourcing and user generated content when it launched a competition last week to: Create a 0:15, 0:30 or 0:60 second PSA that will inform and motivate people to take steps that will help prevent the spread of H1N1 flu. Make your video fun, smart, and entertaining. PSA must close with visual mention of www.flu.gov. The competition was launched on the Flu.Gov website with a video about the competition by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. While we are all very aware … [Read more...]
CDC embraces Social Media tools to spread the word
The US CDC has further embraced social media to spread the word about Swine Flu. Today they released a range of buttons that could be added to websites to disseminate the word on the potential pandemic. Nice initiative! … [Read more...]
Communicating Health Risks – Swine Flu Online
Over a sunday breakfast that included a BLT I opened the papers to read about the outbreaks of Swine Flu. Over the course of the day it was clear that this flu was spreading and discussion online ramped up. Swine Flu received its own Hash Tag on Twitter evidence of growing interest and Mashable wrote an excellent post about the best way to stay on top of the issue. There is no doubt that the introduction of innovative technologies used by authorities such as the CDC (such as Mashups of … [Read more...]