This document summarizes a breakout session at a health literacy conference on using tweets for engagement and health messaging. It introduces the three presenters and their areas of expertise in health communication and social media. It then outlines the objectives of the session, which are to effectively use Twitter and tweet chats for health literacy messaging, establish and structure tweet chats, and analyze participant feedback. The rest of the document provides details on how to create effective health messages as tweets, examples of good and bad tweets, how to create and structure a tweet chat, and Twitter tools and etiquette.

1. Tweets for Engagement
and Health Messaging
Kathleen Hoffman,
Alisa Hughley
& R.V. Rikard
Breakout Session at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement’s
Fourteenth Annual Health Literacy Conference

2. Alisa M. Hughley
@enbloommedia
CARE HACKER + ADVOCATE FOR
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT+ HEALTH
COMMUNICATOR
Co-Hosts

3. RV Rikard
@rv_rikard
SOCIAL SCIENTIST + HEALTH
DISPARITIES + HEALTH LITERACY +
SURVEY RESEARCH + DATA
BULLDOG + STATS HEAD +
GRANTSMAN
Co-Hosts

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. What’s the point?

8. Some Twitter users... “I don’t get Twitter.”

9. Reasons you should
use twitter
Tweets can range
from the inane…

10. to the profound…
motivating change.
Reasons you should
use twitter

11. The fact is…
“[There are] 1 million
tweets relating to
healthcare each day.”
Symplur.com

12.  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

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

14. How can Twitter help my organization?
Connecting with experts
Anton Gunn
Formerly of HHS Office of the Director
External and Inter-Governmental Affairs
Suzannah Fox
Pew Research Center's
Internet & American Life Project

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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

18. Part one

19. 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)

20. 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.

21. 140 characters
using abbreviations,
skipping punctuation,
simplifying
What do we mean by a “change in
bowel habits”?

22. What’s a
“good” tweet?
Let’s take a
look at a few
examples…
measurable
resource-rich
media-rich
directed to specific users

23. A Good Tweet
 Uses an in-stream
photograph
 Conversational
(@BeA_Donor)
 Clearly & concisely
communicates facts
 <140 character making RT
easier
Captures users’ attention

24. A Good Tweet
 Uses twitter to get
answers to questions
 Conversational
 Catalyzes action and
activities in the real
world
Sparks offline engagement

25. 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

26. Good or Bad Tweet?

27. Good or Bad Tweet?

28. Effective Health Messaging
2 examples of what NOT to do

29. “My focus is in broadlyeducating the public…rather thancounseling
patients on their specific,personal health concerns. If the content starts to go
in the direction of their personal health issues, I encouragethem to direct
that conversation offline,with their personal healthcare providers.”
Respect the Fine Line
Suzanne Hall, MD (@suzyyhall)
OB-GYN
Gynogroupie.com Founder
Michigan

30. “[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

31. Interactive Activity II

32. Live Screen Time

33. Part Two

34. 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

35. Types of Tweet Chats
 “Open mic” chat
 Support groups/participant focus groups
 One-on-one in-depth interview

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

37. Support Groups
#BCSM
#LupusChat
#BRTSM

38. #BCSM Breast Cancer Social Media

39. #BCSM
The breast cancer social media
hashtag has become the “bat
symbol” for breast cancer
awareness!

40. #HCHLITSS
What is our format?
 Combination of
 Participant Focus Group
 In-Depth Interview

43. In-Depth Interviews
Detailed, educational,
informative
Unique format for
Twitter

44. Creating a Tweet Chat

45. Healthcare tweets are trending upward

46. You’re in good company

47. Live Screen Time

48. Twitter Tools &
Etiquette
Some tweet chats
provide a list of
expectations for
participants

49. 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”

50. “ … ”
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”

51. 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

52. @ 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.

53. # 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

54. # 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.

55. Analytics on demand

56. Define time frame

57. Review chat analytics

58. Review chat analytics

60. #NHDD: April 16, 2013
When used correctly hashtags
help twitter users amplify their
message

61. Hashtags allow non-
followers to see at RT
your message
RTs can help your
twitter message live for
days and reach a
broader audience

62. #MinHIT: March 10, 2014
When used correctly hashtags
help twitter users amplify their
message

63. QUESTIONS

64. #hchlitss: Thursdays 8pm E

65. 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