Social Media; Social Good?

Written by, Melissa Dreyer

Can Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and other social media sites actually improve society and protect the environment?  Or are they just places to connect and rate your favorite tacos (not to underestimate the importance of finding the perfect fish taco).

Of course Facebook, etc., will always be a great way to spend valuable time info-snacking, pursuing your latest crush, or keeping up with friends.  But social media is quickly becoming the most powerful tool for organizing social movements and political campaigns, spreading information and raising awareness about public health and environmental issues, measuring the success of social campaigns, and channeling donations and efforts.  With the power of social media, some new avenues for social good are only now being imagined.

Organizing

Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC) was formed in response to a crime wave in Intown Atlanta.  After well-known and universally liked bartender John Henderson was shot and killed at the Standard in Grant Park, Kyle Keyser channeled his and the communities’ anger, and launched ATAC. 

Curiously, ATAC initially organized through traditional channels, spreading information on its first event, a vigil for John at the Standard, by word of mouth and calls to local media outlets.  Almost immediately though, word of the vigil began to be posted on Facebook, Creative Loafing’s blog and Twitter by those supportive of ATAC’s cause.  After ATAC’s first event, it quickly adopted social media, and now spreads word of its rallies and efforts through Facebook, Twitter, and it blog, www.atlantanstogether.org. 

Since the formation, thousands have attended ATAC’s rallies, including almost every Atlanta politician, and ATAC has been able to control the mainstream media’s coverage of crime and how Atlantans are responding.  Even had ATAC purposely not wanted to engage in social media, so many supporters were plugged in, ATAC could not have stopped its message from being carried through numerous outlets.  Not only was social media undoubtedly the best way for ATAC to organize and carry its message, it was unavoidable.  ATAC had to engage in social media to control its message.  The same applies to every other social movement and political campaign.

Disseminating Information and Raising Awareness

Social media has become the most efficient vehicle for distributing information and updates relating to public health emergencies and developments.  In the midst of the peanut salmonella outbreak in February 2009, The Centers for Disease Control leveraged social media to dispense critical recall information, utilizing Twitter updates, blogs, YouTube and Podcasts.  Because recall information was being released on a daily if not hourly basis, social media quickly became more effective than any other traditional outlet for disseminating information.

Public health groups are also empowering individuals to take control of public health issues through social media outlets. The California State Department of Health Services recently funded a simple, yet important tool to help reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.  The site inSPOT, http://www.inspot.org/Home.aspx?regionid=6&sitelvl=1, allows users diagnosed with an STD to anonymously send postcards to past sexual partners if they may have been exposed.  The digital space is the ideal medium to promote safe health practices by discreetly empowering the public.

As the public health industry becomes an active member of the social media community, opportunities abound.  If privacy concerns can be adequately addressed, the CDC and WHO can track the spread of flus and other communicable diseases in real-time as users first develop symptoms.  This could lead to diagnosis, the distribution of vaccines/medicines and ultimately help to stem the spread of diseases.

Social Metrics

In the May 10, 2009, New York Times, Nicholas Kristof noted,

To their great credit, advocates working against AIDS and Malaria have goaded Western governments into spending significant sums on prevention and treatment.  The result is that an AIDS diagnosis is no longer an immediate death sentence, and Malaria infection rates are tumbling in some countries. 

Meanwhile, pneumonia keeps on killing, while barely registering on the public consciousness.  On Friday, the biggest pneumonia related cause on Facebook (PS-Pneumonia sucks) had 785 members – while the top 5 health-related causes had a combines 14.1 million. 

We all intuitively know that Kristof is right on the money.  Though pneumonia kills far more men, women and children annually than malaria or AIDs, pneumonia awareness, prevention and treatment don’t carry the same star appeal as AIDS or malaria campaigns.  Though the causes of pneumonia are more ambiguous, Kristof is right in alerting the public that pneumonia is a potent killer and needs more media attention.  Facebook provides the key data for his argument.

Through social media, we now have a quantifiable way to measure awareness and support of various causes – in a way that is more credible than ever before.  And businesses are jumping into the movement.  Target recently allowed Facebook users to steer their $3M philanthropic budget by voting for their non-profit of choice.  Through this effort, Target created a personal connection with consumers by including them in their campaign for social good and in the process, gathered data about their customers’ preferences.  Traditional web analytic companies are picking up on this as well. Omniture recently announced an enhancement to SiteCatalyst, allowing users to track Facebook applications and videos. 

In Short…

With the decline of traditional media vehicles in the wake of the Internet, social media has provided a powerful tool for social good and promoting public health.  News outlets no longer have the same resources to investigate corruption and highlight social movements.  Yet social outlets now allow everyone to become an organizer and a supporter.  This medium has dramatically changed our world for the better, and the possibilities are just now being realized.

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