Computer Rheum w10
Tags: Study, Social Media

Computer Rheum w10

Edit: No longer required for submission, but sayang effort ko so i-blog nalang. LOL

This week’s assignment, we talk about social media. The question presented to us what if there was (God forbid) a new virus in year X, which social media platform would we use to spread awareness, and why?

Image from Pixabay.com

My first instinct was to answer Twitter. But I think, a powerful combination would be Twitter AND Facebook. Even though I think Facebook is pure evil. I mean hasn’t everyone seen ‘The Great Hack’ and ‘The Social Dilemma’?

My (new*) Twitter account is young, but with a well-curated feed of following official accounts, scientific societies and real infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists. While important to monitor these accounts, they also create an artificial silo of knowledge, an ivory tower of sorts. We often say in our social media workshops that news must first be verifiable, but without a translational teacher[i], this “real news” remains in that ivory tower of academia.

Successful medical specialists, in their individual professional accounts already practice some of the tips mentioned in the reading assignment from Big Commerce[ii]. Experts post almost daily about the virus. Some uses a lot of images and videos to explain concepts. Famous doctor-leaders have some shows and interviews and used these platforms to gain a much wider audience. They also listen to their followers and engage with some questions occasionally. While keeping their twitter profile public often puts them at risk of occasional trolls and pandemic deniers, but they fight back with resources such as links to various verified articles and journals. Let us also not forget that the first whistle blower of this current disease did so with social media[v].

However, in the context of our local Social Media landscape, Facebook still ranks as the most common social media used.[vi] Therefore in terms of sharing information, Facebook is still a good choice. Many of the tips mentioned above can also be applied in Facebook. Many famous specialists also cross posts through his public Facebook. The difference is that they likely tap an audience that’s not comprised of young millennials or those in the medical/science field. And that is a big audience.

To include Facebook, however, may require some tweaking of the tips from Twitter. Such as translation into a more understandable native language or dialect. Scientific jargon will only distance the audience from following our account. Many doctors posts in Filipino or the provincial dialect in order to make health information more accessible to the lay community.

These methods of social media dissemination are truly helpful, but probably will not work well with an individual account that has no long standing authority. Many of the accounts I follow has spent years building their social media reputation. Thus we need more doctors online to create, share and talk about real science. The solution to pollution is dilution of these fake news. Because any pandemic brings with it it’s partner — the infodemic. We need to start now to train the lay netizen community, to be in the conversation so that our patients will know how to sift through the myriad of information.