The State of New Media and HIV/AIDS

Background:  New media provides an opportunity to reach people where they are already seeking health information and connecting with others. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 59% of adults in the U.S. have looked online for health information, including 47% of African Americans and 45% of Hispanic/Latinos. With respect to new media, Pew reports that one in five internet users has gone online to find others with similar health concerns. In the HIV community, individuals and organizations often employ new media to advocate for policy change, confront HIV-related stigma, and facilitate behavior change.  

Program background:  Since 2006 AIDS.gov has worked with federal, local and national civic, faith, and public health leaders and organizations to integrate new media tools into their work in order to enhance their capacity to address HIV/AIDS in minority and other communities at greatest risk. Over the last six years AIDS.gov has observed an increase in the adoption of new media tools (e.g., Facebook pages, Twitter profiles, blogs, mobile, and others) by HIV organizations to connect and engage people to HIV information online. This presentation will focus on the current state of new media among the HIV/AID community in the U.S.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Throughout this presentation AIDS.gov team members will highlight specific new media tools and how they are being used to communicate information about HIV prevention, testing, treatment, research, and policy. We will also share evaluation findings, lessons learned, and resources to help individuals and agencies develop a new media strategy and a monitoring and evaluation plan.

Conclusions:  Government agencies and AIDS Service Organizations are increasingly using new media tools to reach their audiences with public health messages and resources. New media tools can be an effective, measureable, and low-cost way to engage diverse audiences in helping to advocate for policy change, confront HIV-related stigma, and facilitate behavior change. By continuing to strategize, experiment, evaluate, and share new media lessons learned, AIDS.gov, other government programs, and AIDS Service Organizations can help inform program planning, implementation, and evaluation of new media public health programs and increase the effectiveness of HIV outreach and communication efforts.

Implications for research and/or practice: This presentation has implications for further research and/or practice by helping to:

• Document current new media strategies being used by federal agencies and AIDS Service Organizations to address HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and opportunities for collaboration;
• Document process and outcome measures and benchmarks that providers can use to evaluate their own new media programs; and
• Identify promising practices and lessons learned that the public health community can build upon.