Commemorating 30 Years of HIV/AIDS Through Creation of An Online Social Community

Background:  June 5, 2011 will mark 30 years commemorates 30 years of HIV/AIDS, CDC National Prevention Information Network (NPIN) created a unique story-telling social media site for the general public to share stories, pictures, videos, and resources collected throughout the span of the epidemic.

Program background:  NPIN’s social media efforts are known for building online collaborative relationships between NGOs, CBOs, non-profits, state and local health departments, individuals, grantees, activists, federal agencies, and public health employees across the United States. Building on our experience of developing interactive web communities for specific populations and to support the CDC Division of HIV/AIDS Preventions (DHAP) 30 year commemoration efforts, NPIN created a forum for people from all facets of the HIV/AIDS epidemic to come together and commemorate their personal and professional experiences of the last 30 years.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  The 30 year community launches on April 4, 2011. By the time of the conference we will have collected evaluation metrics and will be able to share results of the coordinated outreach and marketing efforts. We will share engagement metrics, outreach techniques, and lessons learned from building a customized web community targeted to the general HIV/AIDS community.  We will show the importance of engaging community gatekeepers early in the outreach and marketing efforts

Conclusions:  With the proliferation of social media technologies, those with the common interest in HIV testing, prevention, and care have their choice of new media outlets to share their own experiences and insights on developments and challenges in the field of HIV/AIDS. But, by combining social media sharing and networking through a customized web community, NPIN has provided a unique opportunity for those personally or professionally involved in HIV/AIDS to share their stories in a collective space, network with those with similar interests, and expand their messaging and sharing through multiple social media channels available in a single portal.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Organizations of all levels and sizes can now create visible and responsive HIV campaigns, and they are able to share their successes and strategies with colleagues from around the world. By creating unique forums for discussion and information sharing, CDC NPIN has built practical collaborations and been able to provide new resources to organizations through blogs, microblogs, social networking sites, online conversations, town halls, real-time interviews, and personalized forums. In a time of declining budgets for travel and conferences, the opportunity to network and share experiences and insights with colleagues has diminished. But by using social networking, blogging, personalized web communities, and other tools, CDC NPIN has created virtual networks of prevention professionals, partners, grantees, activists, and organizations that can share their experiences.  These lessons will be very valuable to a wide range of public health interest areas.