To Tweet or not to Tweet: Leveraging Social Media for Environmental Health (1h 50m Learning Lab Hands-On Demonstration)

Social media is becoming increasingly pervasive for immediate information sharing, especially among millenials—who now comprise nearly a quarter of the US population. During Superstorm Sandy, for example, 21 million tweets were shared, compared to only 100,000 four years earlier during Hurricane Gustav. 

But all social media users are selective about which media they use, which thought leaders they follow, what messages they share. As channels proliferate and audiences become increasingly selective, how does a local environmental health professional decide whether, where, and how to connect?

image: www.earthlink.net

CDC’s exploration of many social media avenues over the past five years and has yielded practical knowledge about how to advance environmental health messages in a manner that fits into a typical work day. Whether it’s a natural disaster, an emerging issue, or standard public health protection messaging, CDC has identified tips, tricks, and tools that make it easier for resource-lean public health departments to engage their audiences effectively through social media. 

This session presents evidence-based practices that can easily be adapted to multiple environmental health issues. Learners will learn how to differentiate social media options based on the population in question. Participants will engage in hands-on exercises in message design for a variety of platforms and receive checklists to help in designing a social media outreach plan.