The document proposes creating a Twitter account, @INresearch, to promote recruitment for research studies. It would target the Indianapolis public, especially healthy volunteers at local universities. One assistant would post 1-2 times per week and monitor the account daily. The goal is to verify the account within the first year and link it to the INresearch.org website. Partnering organizations like IU Health and Mayo Clinic would be leveraged to promote the account. Twitter analytics would evaluate click-throughs to the website and registration of patients.

1. INResearch Social Media Proposal
Missionand Purpose
Recruitmentof subjectsischallengingwithmanybarriersthatmustbe overcome ona daily
basis.Some of these challengesinclude insufficienttime,geographical barriers,advertisingresources,
and social stigmarelatedtodisease (Yuan,Bare,Johnson,&Saberi,2014). Social networkingsites(SNS)
such as Facebook,Twitter,andYouTube have createdanew cost-effective outletfortargetingpossible
researchsubjects (Gearhart,2012; O'Connor,Jackson,Goldsmith,&Skirton,2013). We propose the
creationof an INresearch.orgTwitteraccount. The creationof a Facebookpage should be basedoff of
the successof this.Facebookhasmore advertisingandwouldbe more difficulttocontrol whatis posted
to our page by third-parties.
Twitter letsuserscreate messages,calledatweet,thatare 140 charactersor lessandpostedtothe
usersprofile andseenbytheirfollowersinahome feed.Twitterwaslaunchedin2006 andhas been
estimatedtohave 140 millionactive userstodaythatproduce onaverage 340 milliontweetsperday
(O'Connor,Jackson,Goldsmith,&Skirton,2013). Creatinga twitteraccountis free.The profile picture
shouldbe the logoof the organizationwe hope toadvertise,the INresearchlogo. Twitterallowsyouto
create a biographysectionwherethe descriptionof INresearchandthe IndianaCTSIwould be listedas
well asany importantlinks.
VerificationandAuthentication:Twitterverifiescertain accountstomake iteasierforusersto findwho
theyare lookingforinkeyinterestareas.Ourhope isthattwitterwill choose ouraccountto verify
duringthe firstyearof use.Linkingourtwitteraccountto our official websitehasbeensuggestedasthe
bestwayto confirmthe authenticityof the twitteraccount.We mayalso adda follow buttontoour
website sothatparticipantscaneasilyaccessthe twitteraccount.Instructionsonhow toadd a follow
buttonto our website are foundat: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20164833 .
Audience
The target audience of INResearch.orgisthatof the Indianapublic.Currentlywe target these
individualsthroughverbal communication,posteradvertisement, anddistribution of informationcards
by ResNetresearchassistantsinEskenaziandIUHealthprimarycare clinics. We alsooccasionally attend
local healthfairswhere we engage withthe publicand distribute informationcards andswagwithour
logoand website information. Addingsocial mediatoourrecruitmentpromotionwill allow ustotarget
a large populationinashort amountof time.Healthyvolunteers,suchasthose attendingthe local
universities,will be avastmajorityof the new audience createdbytwitteradvertising.
Studies thathave strictinclusioncriteria andthose forrare conditions will benefitfromthe
advertisementonsocial mediadue tothe low possibilityof approachingthose hardtofindpatientsin
clinicsduringareasonable timeline. ResearchersatMayoClinichadsuccesswithsocial networking

2. community-initiatedrecruitmentforSpontaneousCoronaryArteryDissection(SCAD), whichis arare
and underreporteddisease (Tweet,Gulati,Aase,&Hayes,2011). Enrollmentof all 12 participants forthe
pilotstudy wascompletedwithinone weekof approval fromthe institutionalreview board(IRB).
Patient-initiatedresearch isanewarea thathas substantial potential toincrease the rate of research
participationatall institutionsusingsocial mediaasa recruitmentaide.
Barriersthat will existare those of the patient’s accesstothe Internetorthe lack of use by older
patients.ResNetRAs will continue to approachthe olderpopulationof patientsinthe clinictomake up
for this;theyare more likelytohave regularclinicvisitsthanthatof theiryoungercounterparts.
Childrenandgrandchildrenof the olderpopulationmayrefertheirolderlovedonesto differentstudies
for specificconditions.Anexampleof thiswouldbe caregiversof patientswhohave beendiagnosed
withdementiaorAlzheimer’sdisease.
Twitter: @INresearch
(shown on following page)
Rolesand Responsibilities
One dedicated researchassistantshould postonce ortwice weekly tothe INresearch Twitter
account. Throughoutthe day,the researchassistantshouldmonitorwhatotherpeoplehave tweetedor
personal messagedthe @INresearchaccount. A researchassistantwithanapprovedmobiledevice or
easyaccess to a computershouldtake onthisresponsibility. Twitterhasamobile appthat wouldallow
easymonitoringandposting. Twitterallowsyoutocreate drafttweetsthatcouldbe made at one time
and thenpostedthroughoutthe weektoallow forbettertime managementof the researchassistant.
Thiswill alsoallowapproval andcollaborationonthe tweetspriortoposting. The more difficulttaskwill
be that in decidingwhichtweetsfromotherorganizationswe wouldretweetorfavorite onaregular
basis.Dedicatingasectionof the research assistant’s morningtomanagingthe Twitteraccountwould
be the mostefficient. Usersof social mediatendtochecktheminthe morningand at night.Gettingour
tweetsoutinthe morning at certaintimeswill allow forthe bestcoverage andviewsfromourfollowers.
Timeline/Calendar
INresearch.orgtwittershouldbeginactive postsonJuly1st
givenIRB approval hasbeengranted.
We will planaheadtopostbasedon differenteventsin health:suchasMay is Hepatitis
AwarenessMonth, sowe will postthe linktoour hepatitisstudiesonthe clinical trial listingspage and
linkstoeducational informationforpatientswithhepatitis. May20th
isClinical TrialsDay,INresearch
couldtweetaboutthe website aswell aseducationalmaterialsonthe processof clinical trialsandthe
protectionsforresearchparticipants. Since some hesitancy existswithinthe publictotrustonline
sources,INresearch.orgwill postpicturesof ourstaff atdifferentcommunityeventsthatwe attendon
our twitteraccount.Thusputtinga face to INresearch.org.

3. Standards and Policies
An amendmenttothe RecruitmentChecklist will be submittedtothe IRB. Since INresearch.org
onlyrequiresageneral prescreening,thatis inthe form of an online questionnaire usedtogeneratea
listof clinical trialsanindividualmaybe eligiblefor,andisnot trial specific,tweetingabout
INresearch.orgwouldnotneed IRBapproval.However,withcreatinga social mediasite touchingbase
withthe IRB has beensuggestedbythe Officeof HumanResearchProtections. Independentreviews
shouldbe conductedperiodicallybythe IU IRB to assure the tweetsandeducational informationposted
to our twitteraccountisbalancedand notcoercive.
Promotion
The additionof a “Followus”on Twittericon/linkonINresearch.orgwill be created. Oneachof
the trial listings, itmaybe advisable tolista“tweet”or “share”outlet/icononthe webpage to
encourage those whovisitthe site toshare themwith theirfriendsandfamilywhomightbe interested.
Addingthistoour current postcardsisalsoadvisable.
OrganizationssuchasEli Lilly(@EliLillyCo),IndianaUniversity(@IndianaUniv),IUSchool of
Medicine (@iumedschool),IUPublicHealth(@IUSPH),EskenaziHealth(@EskenaziHealth),IUHealth
(@IU_Health),MayoClinic(@MayoClinic),andthe NIH(@NIH) currentlyuse twittertoadvertise and
provide linkstohealtheducational material. INresearchshouldleveragesome of these aspartner
channelstoadvertise INresearch.org.Thiswill induce exposureandawarenessviaothercredible
sources.The table belowsummarizespossibleaccountstoleverage forsupportandthe total amountof
followersforeach.If each of these were toretweetone of INresearch’stweetswithalinktothe
website,the potentialforviewsis1,278,263.
Twitter User Username No. Of Followers
Eli Lilly & Co @EliLillyCo 2,323
Indiana University @IndianaUniv 33,700
IU School of
Medicine @iumedschool 3,812
IU Public Health @IUSPH 1,403
Eskenazi Health @EskenaziHelath 1,325
IU Health @IU_Health 11,700
Mayo Clinic @MayoClinic 783,000
NIH @NIH 441,000
Total 1,278,263

4. The NIH has a twittercampaignusingthe hashtag‘#NIHinYourState’ thatwouldbe an
opportunitytoadvertise whatisbeingdone inIndianathroughNIHfundinganddraw attentiontothat
of INresearch.org,the IUSchool of Medicine,andthe IndianaCTSI. The U.S. Departmentof Health&
Human ServicesalsocontrolsaSocial MediaDirectory.INresearch.orgwill submitthe information
requestedathttp://www.hhs.gov/socialhub/database.htmltodigital@hhs.govtobe grantedalistedon
the HHS Social MediaDirectory. Personsvisitingthe directoryare able tosearchand sort the database
by channel type (ex:twitter),category(ex:research,publichealth,etc.),title (ex:HHSgov),agency(ex:
NIH),and keywords(ex:cancer,dementia). INresearchcouldbe listedinthe categoriesof HealthCare,
Youth,Research,Mental Health,andDiseases&Conditions.
Evaluation & Data Analysis
Twitterallowsyoutosee howmanyviews,retweets,andfavoriteseachtweetreceives.They
sometimessendoutasummaryof besttweetsforeachmonth. Contactingthe twitterhelpdesk may
allow ouraccount to be senta summarymore frequently.Twitteralsoliststhe amountof tweetsyou
have created,followers,andnumberof peopleyouare following. O’Connoretal.2013 useda third
party applicationcalledTwitonomy(http://www.twitonomy.com) toanalyze activityof theirTwitter
account (O'Connor,Jackson,Goldsmith,&Skirton,2013). Twitonomy producesdescriptive statisticson
your twitteractivityandallowsyoutosee the amountof clickson the linksinyourtweets.Thiswill be
importantinanalyzingthe successof posting the linktoourINresearchwebsite.The resultsseenfrom
amountof clicksonINresearch.orglinkswill allow ustocross-reference andanalyze how manyof those
‘clicks’became registeredpatientsonaweekly ormonthlybasis.
AnalyzingotherinstitutionstwitteraccountsviaTwitonomywill allow forusto see which will
create the most beneficial partnership.The pagesatthe endof thisproposal show the Twitonomy
reportsfor IU Health,Eskenazi Health,IUSchool of Medicine,andthe Mayo Clinicaccounts. The
respective retweetratesforthe accountsare 48.09%, 23.29%, 40.28%, and 83.94%. Mayo has the
largestpercentage of retweets.Thisisconsistentwiththemhavingthe largestamountof followersand
beingthe largestinstitution.