Public Health Communication and Social Media

PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Name:
Institution:
Date:
Describe the benefits/advantages and challenges/risks of using social media for public health communication
Social media has revolutionized the way the public consumes information. It is fairly decentralized compared to the traditional media and it despite its many advantages, it still harbors many challenges that limit it as a source of the authoritative information source. One of the main advantages of social media is that it is used by many people daily and for many hours. Information routed through social media is thus likely to reach many people within a short period of time. Social media users share the information which is immediately visible by their friends hence reaching many people in a short period of time. Information relayed through social media is always
Social media enables users to relay feedback to the information sources whether individual or from an organization. This is unlike traditional media where feedback was slow and mostly the information was unidirectional CITATION Nic12 \l 1033 (Nicholls, 2012). Social media enables all users to engage and discuss issues, topics etc. with the information source hence making the communication process more efficient. Public health organizations are able to have personalized communication with the users who contact them directly regarding any of the messages they post. Those who seek clarification on any message are able to do so easily through their social media accounts.
On the other hand, social media is not an authoritative source of information especially today in the age of ‘fake news.’ There are always more pages which are cloned by malicious individuals seeking to ride on the reputation of the organization and get more ‘likes, retweets etc. CITATION Pat17 \l 1033 (Wright, 2017).’ These pages are created faster than they can be tracked and brought down often after doing some damage. Most people get information from these clones of the official page which is often wrong, unsubstantiated and misleading.
Secondly, the social media is often ineffective in some situation especially is the internet infrastructure is destroyed. Following the havoc caused by hurricane Irma in Puerto Rico and recently hurricane Florence in Carolina, the electricity grid and internet infrastructure is often destroyed and takes time to get it back. During this time, the efficacy of the social media as an information disseminating platform is severely hampered and new avenues for doing the same ought to be established.
Describe the organization you followed and the social media channel you selected. What kind of information is shared on social media by the organization?
I followed the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Facebook page. The page popularly known as SC DHEC has been having important information during this tropical season. I am currently in the south-east working as a paramedic in the flooded areas and I have relied on social media to receive updates on the ferocity of the hurricane and some tips to stay safe.
Most of the information shared on the social media page in the last few weeks was directly or indirectly related to hurricanes...