Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Healthcare providers desire ready access to reliable synthesized information to support point-of-care decision-making. Virtual communities, facilitated by the adoption of social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are increasingly used for knowledge mobilization, bridging the gap between knowledge generation/synthesis and knowledge implementation.
Objectives: To implement and evaluate a structured social media strategy to disseminate high quality, child health evidence from Cochrane systematic reviews and overviews to healthcare providers caring for children.
Methods: The Child Health Field’s social media strategy has three components: daily tweets, weekly blog posts, and a monthly Twitter journal club. Each tweet, blog, and journal club shared Cochrane evidence on a child health topic (e.g. treatments for asthma, prevention of childhood obesity). The social media strategy will be evaluated in the following ways: 1) Twitter and blog site analytics – measuring engagement with tweets, and blog site visits; 2) bit.ly statistics – measuring interaction with URL links; 3) Altmetrics – data on the change in scores of social media engagement with source evidence after our promotion; and 4) participant feedback on the journal clubs. We are also tracking the time and skill-sets required to develop the dissemination materials and manage the social media strategy.
Results: A new blog post was uploaded on Monday of each week from November 2014 through March 2015 (22 weeks). We posted tweets three times per day; the tweets linked to the blog or to additional resources on the weekly blog topic. We ran journal clubs via Twitter each month from January to March. Results of the evaluation will be presented at the Colloquium.
Conclusions: This work will provide empiric evidence for the utility of specific social media strategies for the dissemination of Cochrane evidence to professionals providing health services to children and youth. The results will provide useful information to others interested in developing a social media strategy or understanding the uptake of their social media activities.
Objectives: To implement and evaluate a structured social media strategy to disseminate high quality, child health evidence from Cochrane systematic reviews and overviews to healthcare providers caring for children.
Methods: The Child Health Field’s social media strategy has three components: daily tweets, weekly blog posts, and a monthly Twitter journal club. Each tweet, blog, and journal club shared Cochrane evidence on a child health topic (e.g. treatments for asthma, prevention of childhood obesity). The social media strategy will be evaluated in the following ways: 1) Twitter and blog site analytics – measuring engagement with tweets, and blog site visits; 2) bit.ly statistics – measuring interaction with URL links; 3) Altmetrics – data on the change in scores of social media engagement with source evidence after our promotion; and 4) participant feedback on the journal clubs. We are also tracking the time and skill-sets required to develop the dissemination materials and manage the social media strategy.
Results: A new blog post was uploaded on Monday of each week from November 2014 through March 2015 (22 weeks). We posted tweets three times per day; the tweets linked to the blog or to additional resources on the weekly blog topic. We ran journal clubs via Twitter each month from January to March. Results of the evaluation will be presented at the Colloquium.
Conclusions: This work will provide empiric evidence for the utility of specific social media strategies for the dissemination of Cochrane evidence to professionals providing health services to children and youth. The results will provide useful information to others interested in developing a social media strategy or understanding the uptake of their social media activities.