Development and Implementation of An Adolescent Sexual Health Educational Campaign on Facebook

Background: Social media platforms, particularly Facebook, provide a potentially useful mechanism to disseminate information to multiple audiences, and engage in public dialogue. The NYSDOH Take Control! adolescent sexual health campaign initially used text messaging and a website to provide one-way information. Based on success of the initial campaign and feedback from users, NYSDOH expanded the campaign to Facebook.

Objectives:

• To launch an interactive, informative educational Facebook campaign.
• To implement internal protocols to effectively interact with campaign users and manage continuous content updates.

Project Description: The NYSDOH contracted with a media buyer/ social media firm to launch the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/takecontrol) and advertising targeted to NYS adolescents. Program staff developed adolescent-friendly interactive messages to provide information, engage users and challenge misconceptions. Procedures were developed to protect user’s privacy and guide site monitoring and responses to questions.

Findings: During the campaign pilot (4/28/11 – 6/30/11), 11,557 users “liked” the page. Fifty-nine content posts were viewed over 134,000 times (average 2,272 per post) with 926 comments or “likes”. Protocols for pre-scripted responses for anticipated questions and sensitive topics; action steps for inappropriate or sensitive comments; new content development and approvals; and privacy policies were developed.

Conclusions: Based on initial results, NYSDOH will use additional funding to continue and expand the Facebook campaign. Facebook provides a valuable mechanism to distribute tailored information and address common misconceptions. Research suggests individual users may be more likely to ask questions or share personal information online versus in a group or one-on-one setting. Program staff learned from unanticipated internal and external challenges to refine the campaign approach.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: STD programs with limited resources or restricted travel can use Facebook or other social media technologies to educate specific populations. As social media platforms evolve, programs will likely have increased capacity to tailor information to key subpopulations.