Local public health agencies are making use of various social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The uses of these outlets are creating effective communication methods within their communities. The local public health panel will discuss and share their use of social media and the impact it has made to achieve their agencies objective.

Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have created new ways for Local Health Departments (LHDs) to communicate with their respective populations. In recent years, the public health community has used social media for various means of gathering and sharing health information, campaigns, crisis management, public relations, and more. According to NACCHO’s 2010 Public Health Informatics Needs Assessment, nearly half of LHDs (47%) use Facebook and over one third (37%) use Twitter. This session will feature a panel of local public health representatives who will discuss their social media campaigns and successes. Panel members will share their department’s unique experience using social media to interact with their community and the impact social media has made to achieve their objective. Attendees will take away actionable items to help their organization use social media more effectively, or integrate social media into the operations of their organization.