Tweets for Engagement and Health Messaging

Kathleen Hoffman, Alisa Hughley & R.V. Rikard

Breakout Session at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement’sFourteenth Annual Health Literacy Conference

Alisa M. Hughley @enbloommedia

CARE HACKER + ADVOCATE FOR PATIENT ENGAGEMENT+ HEALTH COMMUNICATOR

Co-Hosts

RV Rikard @rv_rikard

SOCIAL SCIENTIST + HEALTH DISPARITIES + HEALTH LITERACY + SURVEY RESEARCH + DATA BULLDOG + STATS HEAD + GRANTSMAN

Co-Hosts

Co-Hosts

Kathleen Hoffman @drkdhoffman

HEALTH COMMUNICATOR + FOUNDER #HCHLITSS TWEET CHAT & LINKED IN GROUP + MEDICAL WRITER+ CAREGIVER+SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALIST & CHIEF BLOG WRITER FOR MEDIVIZOR

RTs, MTs, & #Healthliteracy…OH MY!

Traveling 140 Characters on the Blue Brick Road of the

Twitterverse

brought to you by the Health Communications Health Literacy and Social Science Twitter Chat co-Hosts

@hchlitss

Learning Objectives

• Effectively use Twitter and tweet chats

• Establish, organize, and structure tweet

chats with a health literacy focus

• Analyze feedback from tweet chat

participants

What’s the point?

Some Twitter users...

“I don’t get Twitter.”

Reasons you should use twitter

Tweets can range from the inane…

to the profound…motivating change.

Reasons you should use twitter

The fact is…

“[There are] 1 million tweets relating to healthcare each

day.”Symplur.com

Drive traffic to your organization’s website

An Incredible Resource for Connecting with Experts

An Incredible Resource for Connecting with Stakeholder Communities

Democratizing the Media

How can Twitter help my organization?Reasons You Should Use Twitter

How can Twitter help my organization?Drive traffic to your organization’s website

How can Twitter help my organization?

Connecting with experts

Anton GunnFormerly of HHS Office of the Director

External and Inter-Governmental Affairs

Suzannah FoxPew Research Center'sInternet & American Life Project

enBloom, a health blog at enbloommedia.net

Alisa Hughley’s Health Advocacy at alisamhughley.com#LupusChat

@TiffanyandLupus

gibsoncurrie.tumblr.com

How can Twitter help my organization?Connecting with communities of stakeholders

April Ryan, White House correspondent for a small media outlet broke the story that President Obama signed up for insurance coverage on the Health Benefit Exchange.

How can Twitter help my organization?Democratizing the Media

It was picked up by numerous larger news outlets.

Today Agenda... Create effective health messages as tweets (<140

characters)

Use a third party client to access Twitter (to simplify chat participation)

Participate in a Tweet chat

Create and register a Tweet chat

Understand Twitter Etiquette For example: Retweet (RT) and Mention (MT)

Understand how to use Hashtags & Twitter analytics

Part one

Interactive Activity I

Break into groups of 4 to 5 people

Identify a health literacy message and write 2 to 3 sentences on the topic.

Reduce these 2 or 3 sentences into a tweet (using 140 characters or less)

Health Message Example

Symptoms of colorectal cancer include what physicians call a “change in bowel habits.”

This understatement means having diarrhea, constipation, feeling that your bowel isn’t emptying completely, narrow stools, gas pain, bloating, cramps and fullness. Feeling tired or more tired than normal blood in stools and weight loss that is happening for no known reason are also symptoms.

140 charactersusing abbreviations, skipping punctuation, simplifying

What do we mean by a “change in bowel habits”?

What’s a “good” tweet?

Let’s take a look at a few examples…

measurable

resource-rich

media-rich

directed to specific users

A Good Tweet

Uses an in-stream photograph

Conversational (@BeA_Donor)

Clearly & concisely communicates facts

<140 character making RT easier

Captures users’ attention

A Good Tweet

Uses twitter to get answers to questions

Conversational

Catalyzes action and activities in the real world

Sparks offline engagement

A Good Tweet

Uses statistics

Provides a reference urls

Uses hashtag(s) # to identify topics & broaden the audience

Conversational

Includes in-stream photo

Can be tracked for meta-analysis in the future

Good or Bad Tweet?

Good or Bad Tweet?

Effective Health Messaging 2 examples of what NOT to do

“My focus is in broadly educating the public… rather than counseling patients on

their specific, personal health concerns. If the content starts to go in the direction of their personal health issues, I encourage them to direct that conversation offline, with their

personal healthcare providers.”

Respect the Fine Line

Suzanne Hall, MD (@suzyyhall) OB-GYN

Gynogroupie.com Founder Michigan

“[W]e share more in the elevator [in the hospital] than we do online without realizing it…” Being careful about “what you say in the elevator, the

same thing applies when you’re online.”

Ivor Horn, MD MPH

Respect HIPAA

Interactive Activity II

Live Screen Time

Part Two

Section 2: What is a Tweet Chat?

Basic: a designated place at a designated time to discuss a topic or issue

Social Science: a way to conduct focus groups and in-depth interviews using a micro-blogging platform

Types of Tweet Chats

“Open mic” chat

Support groups/participant focus groups

One-on-one in-depth interview

“Open Mic”Allows for free discussion Usually guided by Topics T1, T2…

Support Groups#BCSM #LupusChat

#BRTSM

#BCSM Breast Cancer Social Media

#BCSMThe breast cancer social media hashtag has become the “bat symbol” for breast cancer awareness!

#HCHLITSSWhat is our format? Combination of Participant Focus Group In-Depth Interview

In-Depth Interviews

Detailed, educational, informative Unique format for Twitter

Creating a Tweet Chat

Healthcare tweets are trending upward

You’re in good company

Live Screen Time

Twitter Tools & Etiquette

Some tweet chats provide a list of expectations for participants

RT

Use these letters before you share someone else’s tweet on your own Twitter stream with your followers; many 3rd party

Twitter clients do this automatically as does Twitter if you select “retweet”

“ … ”

Use quotation marks before you share someone else’s tweet on your own Twitter

stream with your followers; Twitter mobile apps do this automatically if you select

“quote tweet”

MT

Use these letters before you share an edited or shortened version of someone else’s tweet on your own tweet stream with your followers; you must manually change the RT to MT on Twitter and other Twitter clients

@ Mention

To identify a specific Twitter user. Allows your tweet to appear under their notification stream. This tool allows you to initiate or continue a conversation on

Twitter.

# Hashtags

By tweeting with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet

Organizes conversations on the same topic into a single thread making it convenient for Twitter users to view and compare ideas.

Allows users to follow a topic and easily identify topics they deem relevant

# Hashtags: A Few Guidelines

Don't #spam #with #hashtags.

Don't over-tag a single Tweet. Use no more than 2 hashtags per Tweet.

Use hashtags only on Tweets relevant to the topic.

Analytics on demand

Define time frame

Review chat analytics

Review chat analytics

#NHDD: April 16, 2013

When used correctly hashtags help twitter users amplify their message

Hashtags allow non-followers to see at RT your message

RTs can help your twitter message live for days and reach a broader audience

#MinHIT: March 10, 2014

When used correctly hashtags help twitter users amplify their message

QUESTIONS

#hchlitss: Thursdays 8pm E

Tweets for Engagement and Health Messaging

Kathleen Hoffman, Alisa Hughley & R.V. Rikard

Breakout Session at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement’s

Thirteenth Annual Health Literacy Conference