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Social media and Public Health
School of Public Health | Sydney Medical School
Dr Becky Freeman
Sr Lecturer / NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow
Twitter @DrBFreeman
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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Internet use in Australia
– In 2014–15, 7.7 million households had broadband internet access
– Representing 86% of all households (up from 83% in 2012–13)
– 1.3 million Australian households without internet access at home in 2014–15
(14%)
– no need (63%)
– lack of confidence or knowledge (22%)
– and cost (16%)
– Accessed through a desktop or laptop computer (94%), mobile or smart phones
(86%) and tablets (62%)
– The mean number of devices was 6 and for households with children aged under
15 years mean was 7
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Source: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/8146.0
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Hours online for personal use per week
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http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/log?openagent&81460do002_201415.xls&8146.0&Data%20Cubes&5AD0B
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Reasons for accessing the internet in the last 3 months (%)
Social networking
Health services
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New Media
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– “Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications [Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter] that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,
and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content.”
– Source: Kaplan AM, Haenlein M. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and
opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons. 2010;53(1):59-68.
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Social Media Statistics Australia – June 2016
1. Facebook – 15,000,000 users (steady)2. YouTube – 14,350,000 UAVs3. WordPress.com – 5,550,0004. Instagram – 5,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users (Facebook/ Instagram data)5. Tumblr – 4,300,0006. LinkedIn – 3,500,0007. Twitter – 2,800,000 Monthly Active Australian Users approx8. WhatsApp – 2,400,000 Active Australian Users9. TripAdvisor – 2,350,00010. Blogspot- 2,050,00011. Snapchat – 2,000,000 approx Monthly Active Australian Users12. Tinder – 2,000,000 Australian users (my estimation)13. Yelp – 1,600,00014. Flickr – 550,00015. Pinterest – 290,00016. Reddit – 100,00017. MySpace – 80,00018. Google Plus – 60,000 monthly active Australian users approx19. StumbleUpon – 40,00020. Foursquare/Swarm – 16,50021. Digg – 14,00022. Delicious – 11,00023. Periscope – 10,000
– (All figures represent the number of Unique Australian Visitors [UAVs] to that website over the monthly period – unless otherwise stated above).
– Statistics compiled by SocialMediaNews.com.au for June 2016.
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My social media buzz words
– Participate
– Connect
– Share
– Learn
– Promote
– Influence
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Use of social media tools: Use simple and familiar tools to encourage participation and collect data
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Community: Build online communities by tapping into existing networks
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Content: Develop engaging content with a clear call to action
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Promotion: Actively drive traffic through continuous promotion
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– Dual-screening is now considered
normal among online Australians –
three in four (74%) now multi-task
with two sets of content.
– A new movement, however, in the
form of triple-screening, has begun
to infiltrate consumers’ media
behaviour, with more than a
quarter (26%) now participating in
triple-screening
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Source: http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/news/2014/triple-screening-a-new-phenomenon.html
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Cost: Social media can be low cost but time and human resource intensive
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The Gaps
– What are the best ways to engage with target audiences on social media?
– What role does emotion play on social media?
– How can public health maximize the chances of achieving public health goals through social media?
Research questions
1. What social and conventional marketing techniques
are being employed by public health organisations on
Facebook?
2. What techniques are associated with greater user
engagement?
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Ph
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Vid
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Te
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Call-
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Info
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Hum
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Type of post Social marketing technique
Descriptive Results
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Results – Social Marketing Technique
Compared to Call-To-Action posts:
– Emotive posts did not stand out
(e.g. Positive Emotional Appeals
received 18% more likes but 27%
fewer shares)
– Informative posts received more
than twice as many Shares
– Humour posts received 70%
fewer Shares but twice as many
Comments
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Conclusions
– We expected emotive posts to stand out – that they didn’t might be because:
– Facebook users might engage with public health pages differently for different reasons (e.g. looking for information or like-minded community); or
– Public health organisations aren’t getting the emotions ‘right’
Future research:
1. Why do people engage with public health
issues on Facebook and do certain health
issues lend themselves to Facebook more so
than others?
2. What emotions work best to build
engagement?
3. Does increased engagement actually
contribute to public health goals?
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American Journal of Public Health 2014
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– We assessed the amount, reach, and nature of energy-dense, nutrient-poor
(EDNP) food and beverage marketing on Facebook.
– We conducted a content analysis of the marketing techniques used by the 27
most popular food and beverage brand Facebook pages in Australia.
– We coded content across 19 marketing categories; data were collected from
the day each page launched (Average of 3.65 y of activity per page).
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All pages were for EDNP food and bevarges
– 27 pages
– 7 fast food restaurants
– 5 chocolate
– 4 sugar-sweetened sodas
– 3 energy drinks
– 2 confectionery brands
– 2 ice cream brands
– 2 condiments or spreads
– 1 sweet biscuit
– 1 salty snack
– There was a nearly even mix of
international (13 pages) and
Australian-based brand pages (14
pages)
– 4 brands (Subway, Coca-Cola,
Slurpee, Maltesers) represented by
both an international and an
Australian version of the page
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Feelings, not facts
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Photos
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Giving back to members
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Be useful
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Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram,
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Contact info
– DR BECKY FREEMAN | NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow
– twitter @drbfreeman
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