Mosquito-borne disease management in Australia faces challenges on many fronts. Many gaps exist in our understanding of the drivers of exotic and endemic mosquito-borne disease risk but also the pathways to ensuring the community embrace personal protection measures to avoid mosquito bites. While traditional media has been the mainstay of public health communications by local authorities, social media provides a new avenues for disseminating information and engaging with the wider community. This presentation will share some insights into how the use of social media has connected new and old communications strategies to not only extend the reach of public health messages but also provide an opportunity to promote entomological research and wetland conservation. A range of social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram and Wordpress, were employed to disseminate public health messages and engage the community and traditional media outlets. Engagement with the accounts of traditional media (e.g. radio, print, television, online) was found to be the main route to increased exposure and, subsequently, to increased access of public health information online. With the increasing accessibility of the community to online resources via smartphones, researchers and public health advocates must develop strategies to effectively use social media. Many people now turn to social media as a source of news and information and those in the field of public health, as well as entomological research more generally, must take advantage of these new opportunities.

1. Communicating the risks of local
and exotic mosquito-borne
disease threats to the
community through social and
traditional media
Dr Cameron Webb
Medical Entomology
University of Sydney & NSW Health Pathology
Email: Cameron.webb@health.nsw.gov.au
Twitter: @mozziebites

2. We’re changing the technologies
we use to catch, count and kill
mosquitoes, why not look to new
strategies for communications?

3. Traditional mosquito risk communication
3

4. Getting social with our communications

6. 6
Connecting community and media

7. New threats, new focus?

8. An outbreak of fear, anxiety and panic?

9. The value of a media conference in digital age
 Zika virus and WHO
 University of Sydney
and Australian Science
and Media Centre
 Live and remote
journalists; broadcast on
ABC24
 Post-media conference
interviews (inc. NYT,
Time Magazine, BBC)
 Over 500 media items
 What was it worth?

10. 10
Traditional media, new audiences

11. What are all these media interviews worth?
Media outlet Number Audience Value
TV 22 2,649,000 $473,881
AM Radio 59 2,966,700 $807,710
FM Radio 11 256,800 $31,462
Print Media 51 2,984,226 $203,247
Online Media 19 17,294 $71,182
TOTAL 162 8,874,020 $1,587,482
Data: November 2015-March 2016, iSentia

12. Explaining what works and what doesn’t
Webb CE (2015) Are we doing enough to promote the effective use
of mosquito repellents? Medical Journal of Australia 202: 128-129.
 First line of defence remains
personal protection measures
 Disconnect between advice
provided, community interest and
commercial products
 Embracing social media to
connect mass media and public
health advocacy in modern
Australia

13. 13
 Do “mosquito repellent bands” work?
 Rarely addressed in communications
 Study published in 2009 in “General
and Applied Entomology”
 Wrote a blog post in 2014
 Widely shared on social media
 Most read blog post (>125k views)
 Common point of contact for blog
 Local and international media
reference and contact
 Does it make a difference?
Can writing a blog stop people getting sick?

14. 14
Blog post article
Publication
date
Views
Do mosquito repellent wrist bands work? 25 Nov 2013 125,400
Testing the claims of new mosquito repellents 25 July 2013 24,457
Busting five myths of mosquito repellents 22 July 2013 29,130
Are mosquito coils making us sick? 26 Apr 2015 18,455
Should we mix mosquito repellents and
sunscreens?
27 July 2014 8,547
Mosquito Repellent Guidelines 10 Jan 2013 5,566
Why don’t mosquitoes spread Ebola? 20 Oct 2014 3,304
How many people read blog posts?

16. 16
The Conversation article
Publication
date
Views
Why mosquitoes seem to bite some people more 26 Jan 2015 1.345M
Should I throw away food once a fly has landed on it? 24 Dec 2015 670,600
Despite ‘barely there’ trends, pubic lice are here to stay 11 Feb 2016 94,233
Here’s how you beat ‘indestructible’ head lice 5 Aug 2016 35,884
A user’s guide to repellents 4 Jan 2013 49,585
Taking the ouch and itch out of insect bites 19 Apr 2012 37,506
Does Zika virus pose a threat to Australia 26 Jan 2016 23,105
Tackling the tricky task of tick removal 21 May 2014 22,284
Tracking the audience for The Conversation

17. 17
How else can you use the data?

18. 18
 Should we be “public health content providers”?
 Social media is becoming increasingly essential
 Provides connection between community and
experts/local authorities (via media)
 It doesn’t have to be you; encourage your media
and communications teams
 Improvements in “cutting edge” surveillance
technologies must be matched with community
connections promoting personal protection
Summary

19. Thank you!
Join the conversation
Visit my website: http://cameronwebb.wordpress.com
Email: Cameron.Webb@health.nsw.gov.au
Follow me on Twitter: @mozziebites