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CDC Social Media Tools, Guidelines & Best Practices


The Health Communicator’s Social Media Toolkit

This toolkit was developed by the Electronic Media Branch, Division of News and Electronic Media, Office of the Associate Director of Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was designed to provide guidance and to share the lessons learned in more than three years of integrating social media into CDC health communication campaigns, activities and emergency response efforts. In this guide, you will find information to help you get started using social media—from developing governance to determining which channels best meet your communication objectives to creating a social media strategy. You will also learn about popular channels you can incorporate into your plan, such as blogs, video-sharing sites, mobile applications and RSS feeds. This toolkit is intended for a beginner audience, although some viewers with an intermediate level may find parts of the toolkit useful.

CDC uses social media to provide users with access to credible, science-based health information when, where and how users want it. A variety of social media tools are used to reinforce and personalize messages, reach new audiences, and build a communication infrastructure based on open information exchange. There are three key attributes of social media channels that are believed to make them highly effective as health communication tools.

  • Personalization – content tailored to individual needs
  • Presentation – timely and relevant content accessible in multiple formats and contexts
  • Participation – partners and the public who contribute content in meaningful ways

Additionally, many social media channels facilitate social engagement, viral sharing of information and trust.
There are a number of social media tools that you can utilize in your health communications activities—more than what is listed here, in fact. While we did not cover every social media tool available, this section of the toolkit should provide you with an understanding of a wide range of social media tools CDC and others in public health have successfully used in emergency response,

  • Page last reviewed: October 31, 2016
  • Page last updated: January 22, 2014
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