Please enjoy our group project on the use of blogs in health messaging!

1. BLOGS AND HEALTH MESSAGING
THE HEALTHY BLOGINATORS:
Mahnaz Dasti
Elizabeth Pratt
Kathleen Stofocik
Raja Zeeshan

2. INTRODUCTION
 Information to be covered:
 General description of blogs
 How blogs are used in public health messaging
 Advantages and disadvantages
 Examples of public health blogs
 The Healthy Bloginators recommendations
 Key terms:
 Blog
 Public health messaging

3. WHAT IS A BLOG?
 Web log (online journal)
 One or more authors using same format
 Reverse chronological order
 Potential for interactive discussion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). The health communicators social media toolkit.
Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/Tools/guidelines/pdf/SocialMediaToolkit_BM.pdf

4. WHO USES BLOGS?
 Audience size may vary
 Small group of friends to global following
 Increased popularity among adults
 Educated and affluent
 Less popular among teens

5. HOW ARE BLOGS BEING USED?
 Engage audience and market health
communication
 Social media blogs
 Share and disseminate health messages
 News and analysis—personal
health, emergencies, outbreaks
 Shared via links, videos,
social networks, & search
engines.

6. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
Advantages Disadvantages
Customize messages Potential inaccuracies
Ease of sharing May not be scientific
Interactive Time consuming
Detailed Only reaches certain populations
Low cost Message can be misinterpreted
Informative
Marketing tool

7. EXAMPLES OF HEALTH-RELATED BLOGS
 CDC’s Public Health Matters Blog
 Health Affairs Blog
 The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and
Unplanned Pregnancy Blog
 Pregnant Pause

8. CDC’S PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERS BLOG
http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/

9. HEALTH AFFAIRS BLOG
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/

10. THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT TEEN AND
UNPLANNED PREGNANCY
http://blog.thenationalcampaign.org/pregnant_pause/

11. RECOMMENDATIONS
 Software applications
 Blog creation
 Desktop and mobile applications
 Extracting information
 Search engine optimization
 Promoting the blog

12. THE MECHANICS OF BLOGGING
Blog software Information SEO software Sharing Content
capture enhancement
Blogger.com Read-it-later SEO Blogger Ping-O-Matic Zemanta-image
and link
suggestions
Wordpress.org Evernote.com SEO Book Shareaholic PollDaddy—add
polls, opinions
Tumbler.com Springpad Feedburner Awesome
Screenshot
Windows live catch FireShot—
writer screen shots
Blogjet Trail-mix Pixlr Grabber—
screen shots
Scribefire.com diigo
Qumana.com
Veeeb.com
Deepest sender

13. CONCLUSION
 Web log = online journal
 Variety of authors, topics, formats
 Personal and engaging
 Used for marketing, interacting, and notifying the public
of important public health information
 Numerous tools to create and personalize
 Provides links, videos, scientific information
 Audience can learn in a variety of media
 Blogs allow public health topics to reach a variety of
audiences in a fun and educational way!

14. REFERENCES
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). The
health communicators social media toolkit. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/Tools/guidelines/pdf/SocialMe
diaToolkit_BM.pdf
 France, C. (2012). 20+ essential tools and applications for
bloggers. Retrieved from
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/blogging-application-tools/
 Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zichuhr, K. (2010). Social
media and mobile internet use among teens and young
adults. Retrieved from
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1484/social-media-mobile-
internet-use-teens-millennials-fewer-blog