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If we ignore it, it might go away and we wont have to deal with it
To the health care industry, the definition that “social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co creation of value” is insufficient to convince health professionals (especially clinicians) in health promotion & disease control/prevention to use this tool. It is part of what is also known as Web 2.0 applications.
To most health professionals, social media is mainly Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. These are internet websites their children or patients use for networking and entertainment. In reality, social media , according to Kaplan and Haenlein is a: Collaborative projects, blogs and microblogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds and virtual social worlds.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
72% of Australian households had home internet access and
78% of households had access to a computer.
Between 1998 to 2008-09, household access to the internet at home has more than quadrupled from 16% to 72%, while access to computers has increased from 44% to 78%”.
“The number of households with a broadband internet connection increased by 18% from the previous year, to an estimated 5.0 million households. Broadband is accessed by close to two-thirds (62%) of all households in Australia and 86% of all households with internet access. A small proportion of respondents (2%) did not know the type of their internet connection at home”.
Literature
In an article by Freeman B and Chapman S in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2008 School of Public Health Sydney , Australia) entitled: “Gone Viral? Heard the buzz?
A guide for public health practitioners and researchers on how Web 2.0 can subvert advertising restrictions and spread health information”, emphasis is made on the importance of “public health practitioners and researchers to catch up and exploit the same media (business advertising through social media) for health promotion purposes”.
The article discusses the terms ‘viral’ and ‘buzz’ and why these tools are being used by alcohol, fast food and tobacco companies to expand their consumer awareness and increase uptake. It is hard to read this article and to not want to set up a strategic plan for the next 6 months and get started with social media in public health.
In another article by Michael Hardy in the Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health entitled “Public Health and Web 2.0″, he states that “Web 2.0 offers considerable opportunities for disseminating health information and creating new sources of data, as well as generating new questions and dilemma”.
Common Concerns
The currently held opinion by the sceptics that Web 2.0 is an unregulated “reflection of the Global collaboration is partly an illusion, as the technologies that underpin the internet remain the drivers behind many Web 2.0 resources are commercial rather than philanthropic” (Hardy 2008).
It is also false to think that “networked data is somehow ‘horizontal’ or ‘equal’ and that search engines are neutral in how information is identified” (Hardy 2008). Hardy goes to say and I admit that I am relieved that “Web 2.0 places a premium on openness and access to information that is challenging some established government…”, which is probably why social media is still blocked in the public sector.
The challenges to government that social media creates should be overcome to make way for a new generation of disease control/prevention program that is efficient, ‘viral’ and youth friendly.
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