1. BLOGS AND HEALTH MESSAGINGTHE HEALTHY BLOGINATORS:Mahnaz DastiElizabeth PrattKathleen StofocikRaja Zeeshan

2. INTRODUCTION Information to be covered: General description of blogs How blogs are used in public health messaging Advantages and disadvantages Examples of public health blogs The Healthy Bloginators recommendations Key terms: Blog Public health messaging 3. WHAT IS A BLOG? Web log (online journal) One or more authors using same format Reverse chronological order Potential for interactive discussionCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). The health communicators social media toolkit.Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/Tools/guidelines/pdf/SocialMediaToolkit_BM.pdf 4. WHO USES BLOGS? Audience size may vary Small group of friends to global following Increased popularity among adults Educated and affluent Less popular among teens 5. HOW ARE BLOGS BEING USED? Engage audience and market healthcommunication Social media blogs Share and disseminate health messages News and analysispersonalhealth, emergencies, outbreaks Shared via links, videos,social networks, & searchengines. 6. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGESAdvantages DisadvantagesCustomize messages Potential inaccuraciesEase of sharingMay not be scientificInteractiveTime consumingDetailed Only reaches certain populationsLow cost Message can be misinterpretedInformativeMarketing tool 7. EXAMPLES OF HEALTH-RELATED BLOGS CDCs Public Health Matters Blog Health Affairs Blog The National Campaign to Prevent Teen andUnplanned Pregnancy Blog Pregnant Pause 8. CDCS PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERS BLOGhttp://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/ 9. HEALTH AFFAIRS BLOGhttp://healthaffairs.org/blog/ 10. THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT TEEN ANDUNPLANNED PREGNANCYhttp://blog.thenationalcampaign.org/pregnant_pause/ 11. RECOMMENDATIONS Software applications Blog creation Desktop and mobile applications Extracting information Search engine optimization Promoting the blog 12. THE MECHANICS OF BLOGGINGBlog softwareInformation SEO software SharingContent capture enhancementBlogger.comRead-it-later SEO BloggerPing-O-Matic Zemanta-image and link suggestionsWordpress.orgEvernote.comSEO Book ShareaholicPollDaddyadd polls, opinionsTumbler.comSpringpadFeedburner Awesome ScreenshotWindows live catch FireShotwriter screen shotsBlogjetTrail-mix Pixlr Grabber screen shotsScribefire.com diigoQumana.comVeeeb.comDeepest sender 13. CONCLUSION Web log = online journal Variety of authors, topics, formats Personal and engaging Used for marketing, interacting, and notifying the publicof important public health information Numerous tools to create and personalize Provides links, videos, scientific information Audience can learn in a variety of media Blogs allow public health topics to reach a variety ofaudiences in a fun and educational way! 14. REFERENCES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Thehealth communicators social media toolkit. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/Tools/guidelines/pdf/SocialMediaToolkit_BM.pdf France, C. (2012). 20+ essential tools and applications forbloggers. Retrieved fromhttp://www.hongkiat.com/blog/blogging-application-tools/ Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zichuhr, K. (2010). Socialmedia and mobile internet use among teens and youngadults. Retrieved fromhttp://pewresearch.org/pubs/1484/social-media-mobile-internet-use-teens-millennials-fewer-blog