How to use social media in a useful, ethical, and educational way for your practice and for the public

October 26, 20112011 OPA Convention Kathleen Ashton, Ph.D. & Mary Miller-Lewis, Ph.D.

Social Media 101 for Psychologists

Goals

1. Sign up for a social media account2. Understand privacy (or lack

thereof) in social media3. Use your account to post

psychological information or review other’s information

Social Media

• What is social media?• Twitter• Facebook• Linked-In• Blogs• Etc., etc., etc.!

Social Media

• Why become involved?• Main way the

Millenial generation gets their news

• If not us, then who?

• Easy to use, free, and not time consuming

Social Media

• Introduction to Twitter• Completely public• Streaming newsfeed• Anyone can find you on here• www.twitter.com

Social Media

• How a psychologist might use twitter• Send out

information on psychology

• Connect to their blog (we’ll get to this!)

• Keep clients informed about mental health issues

• Increase website traffic

Social Media

• Some examplesAPA Public Education Campaign• @apahelpcenter• Washington, DC• Tips, news and talk about stress, mind-

body health, behaviors and emotional well-being from the American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter

Social Media

Ohio Psychological Association

• @ohiopsychassn• OPA is a membership

organization of more than 2,000 psychologists and graduate students. For an online referral, visit www.ohpsych.org http://www.ohpsych.org

• #opaconvention

Social Media

• Username: like your e-mail address• @marylewisphd• Profile: picture + description• Counseling Psychologist specializing in

Geropsychology, Long-Term Care, and End-of-Life Issues. Passionate about Social Responsibility and Political Advocacy. http://marylewisphd.blogspot.com/

• Tweet: 140 character message• “Monday Oct 10th is World Health Day. The theme this

year is "Investing in Mental Health." For more info:#http:bit #psych”

Social Media

• @stress_doc• Profile: Kathleen Ashton, Ph.D.

works with APA and OPA in Ohio to communicate how psychology can help people with stress and their health.

Social Media

• Create your own twitter account• Go to www.twitter.com• You can access it from a computer

or your smartphone• Select a username

• 15 characters

Social Media

• Twitterspeak• Followers: people who get your tweets• Follow: people whose tweets you get• Retweet: (RT) forwarding a tweet• Hashtags: (#) makes tweets searchable• Sending a message: use @username• URL shorteners: make web addresses

short to fit in tweets: tinyurl, google, etc.

Social Media

• Try sending a message• Try doing a search using hashtags• Try sending a message with a

hashtag• Try retweeting

Social Media

Introduction to Blogs• A blog is a public site where you

might write brief news items for the public/clients

• Again, usually public and searchable.

• Longer items than a tweet• Can connect you blog to your

website, twitter, or facebook

Social Media

• COSR Blog• http://opapic.blogspot.com/

Social Media

• APA HelpCenter Blog

• http://www.yourmindyourbody.org

Social Media

• Blogs have many uses, like in the classroom!

Social Media

• Blog advice• Keep items fairly short• Use a picture• Provide links and resources• Keep it personal and interesting

Social Media

• Blogging works best when you provide original content fairly regularly

• If reposting others’ content, should get permission first

• Short pieces are generally best• Be sure to “label” your blog articles

for easier access

Social Media

• How to use Facebook• Brought to you via YouTube with Mary

Miller-Lewis!• http://youtu.be/ABOtecoKDM8

“Professional” Facebook

Professional vs. Personal FB

• If you use FB:• Develop a personal FB account that

does not use your full professional name.

• Enable the highest settings for privacy on personal accounts so you are not searchable by clients

• Use a professional FB account as a “placeholder profile” where you do not add friends and/or publish only feeds of psychological information

Social Media Policy

• Develop a Social Media policy for your practice.• Sample: http://www.drkkolmes.com/docs/socmed.pdf

• Talk openly with clients about restrictions on social media

• Consider a balance of privacy over access

• Even if you don’t use social media, get on and “reserve” your name; otherwise someone else might!

Social Media

• Summary• Social media is not scary• Used wisely, can be effective tool• Don’t be afraid to dive in!

Other Resources

• Ohio State Medical Association Social Media Toolkithttp://www.osma.org/files/documents/tools-and-resources/running-a-practice/social-media-policy.pdf

• CDC’s “The Health Communicator's Social Media Toolkit”http://www.osma.org/files/documents/tools-and resources/running-a-practice/social-media-policy.pdf

• Integrating social media into healthcare: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/04/integrating-social-media-everyday-health-care.html

• Social media for psychologists: http://www.webtrainingwheels.com/2010/01/social-media-for-psychologists-and-therapists/

Other Resources

• Using Twitter to grow your therapy practice: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/private-practice/2011/10/to-tweet-or-notto-tweet-using-twitter-to-grow-your-therapy-practice/

• Integrating social media the right way: http://www.SherpaStore.com

• Social Media –The Strategies (and Tactics!) You Need to Know: http://www.SherpaStore.com

• 25 tips for Social Media Success: http://www.vocus.com/Email/11/Apr/WP/25tipsforsocialmediasuccess.pdf

Public Education in Ohio

Kathleen Ashton, Ph.D.ashtonk@ccf.org216-444-3438APA Public Education Campaign Liaison

for OhioPast Chair, Committee for Social

Responsibility