Adoption and Use of Social Media Among State Health Departments

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: Social media tools allow individuals or organizations to create and share content with an unlimited number of people. Organizations may use social media to build brand awareness, to develop communities around specific health topics, and to initiate conversations and interact with and engage audiences. Though social media is widely used among several population segments, it is not known the degree to which, and in what ways, public health professionals at state health departments are using these tools to communicate with their audiences. The purposes of this study were to 1) assess the degree to which social media has spread across state health departments; 2) determine which social media tools are used most often among state health departments; and 3) determine the extent to which social media is being used interactively.

Methods: Web addresses were obtained from the National Public Health Information Coalition list of state health departments. Each website homepage was visited to ascertain the presence of social media icons, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube, and evidence of a department blog. Researchers visited the respective social media site and obtained screen shots covering a one-month time period. These pages were independently analyzed and coded by two coders for social media presence and interactivity. Key metrics included number of posts, videos, photos, views, comments, likes, dislikes, internal and external links, followers, friends, events, discussions, and notes. Interactivity was measured by the number of comments on posts and by user-generated content.

Results: Over half of states (n=29) have at least one social media account. The earliest initiation of use was 2007, with majority beginning during 2009-2010. The mean number of social media tools used is 2.17. The most common social media tools are microblogging (i.e., Twitter; n=26), followed by social networking (i.e., Facebook; n=18) and YouTube (n=11); only one state has a blog. There is limited interaction, including conversations, between the agency and the audience. Though not statistically significant (p=.394) social media tools are more likely to be used by states with higher population densities (median = 153.9 persons/square mile v. 43.1).

Conclusions: A majority of professionals in state health departments use at least some form of social media, though the number of tools are limited. Most states appear to use social media as a content sharing tool, pushing out information to audiences with little expectation for creating discussion between their audience and the department.  

Implications for research and/or practice: A key value of social media is the opportunity to connect and develop relationships with audiences. Public health professionals should consider a strategic approach for incorporating social media, including ways to more actively engage their audiences. Increased connections with key audiences may lead to increased brand awareness, increased ability to respond to audience concerns, and greater participation in public health programs and initiatives.