What the H1N1 Outbreak Taught Us About Twitter

1. A Little Birdie Told Me What the H1N1 Outbreak Taught Us About Using Twitter Tonya Oaks Smith 13 June 2011

2. Let’s get it started… and get the worm Who am I and why do you care? Who are you? I do care  What are we talking about today?

4. @marleysmom @ a glance Director of Communications at the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law Co-chair for #hewebAR Co-chair of the HighEdWeb regional support committee Earned master’s degree in applied communication studies in 2010 About.me/marleysmom

5. Who are you?

6. On the agenda today Background Theory Research Results Application

7. The background Why Twitter? Presence is more and more prevalent – use in Iran, Hudson River crash, H1N1 65 MM Tweets per day from millions of users Why H1N1? Health catastrophe that was anticipated Other communication vehicles used in preparation for outbreak Right place, right time

8. The theory Diffusion of Innovation Ev Rogers – communication researcher and supreme networker The way a new idea is shared through both interpersonal channels and mass media Begun as way to chart spread of information about and adoption of crop innovations in Iowa Now theory is used as way to share health information on a broad scale – HIV, malaria, STDs

9. The theory

13. The results Survey of the users: How often do individuals pass along information? How do they choose what information to pass along? How do they verify the truth of the information they see? How does the information they see on Twitter impact their decisions?

14. What’s different now? Today, people expect to share information, not be fed it. They expect to be listened to when they have knowledge and raise questions. They want news that connects with their lives and interests. They want control over their information. And they want connection – they give their trust to those they engage with – people who talk with them, listen and maintain a relationship. – Michael Skoler Media scholar

15. Influence means what? Per Twitter: Indegree influence Retweet influence Mention influence Popular users who have high indegree are not necessarily influential in terms of spawning retweets or mentions. Most influential users can hold significant influence over a variety of topics. Influence is not gained spontaneously or accidentally, but through concerted effort. - Cha, Haddadi, Benevenuto, Gummadi, 2010

16. The application

21. No, seriously… Don’t: Share information unworthy of your followers Ignore followers’ legitimate concerns Waste time sharing useless information Ignore misinformation Spread information you can’t confirm Abuse your followers’ trust Use Twitter without pondering the ramifications

22. And even more seriously… Do: Accept the importance of the medium both as an interpersonal channel and mass medium Build relationships before emergencies and crises happen Share salient information Harness power of network Encourage questioning Call attention to misinformation Fill the information vacuum Reduce uncertainty Verify your own information

23. So what did we learn? Twitter is an important new-ish medium (still NEW to those not in the know (bosses, presidents, chancellors ;) )) Twitter can be used for good and evil Our followers trust us as change agents and opinion leaders – scary! Twitter can’t be the only medium we use to communicate information – it is part of a toolkit.

24. Questions? tosmith@ualr.edu @marleysmom 501.324.9896 Complete research is on issuu.com/marleysmom OR… @robin2go can usually find me ;)