A decade of lessons learned in using social technologies for science communication R. Craig Lefebvre, PhD Lead Change Designer Center for Communication Science. RTI International @chiefmaven Translation and Communications Interest Group, AcademyHealth 24 June 2017
The Overview • Science of science communication. • What does social media do? • What have we learned in a decade of practice? • What are the implications for your social media research and practice? • What’s next?
Goals for Communicating Science 1. Share the findings and excitement of science. 2. Increase appreciation for science as a useful way of understanding and navigating the modern world. 3. Increase knowledge and understanding of the science related to a specific issue. 4. Influence people’s opinions, behavior, and policy preferences. 5. Engage with diverse groups so that their perspectives about science can be considered in seeking solutions to societal problems that affect everyone. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23674.
Two Widely Shared (and wrong) Assumptions • A lack of information or understanding of science fully explains why more people do not accept scientific claims or engage in behaviors or support policies that are consistent with scientific evidence. • If only science communication were done “better,” people would make choices consistent with scientific evidence. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23674.
Converging Influences of Science Communication • The complex nature of scientific information • Ways in which people process such information • Social influences, such as social networks, norms, group memberships, and loyalties. How is scientific information accessed, encountered, understood, shared, or discussed by policy makers in formal policy processes? How can science communication affect these processes? How are these policy processes affected by science communication when science is involved in public controversy?
Better Understanding of the Media Environment • Competition and differentiation • Segmentation and concentration • Media preferences and effectiveness • Social networks and social media • Social networks and social media effects
What is Social About Media?
What Does Social Media Do? • Becomes a collaborative platform • Harnesses collective intelligence • Enables everyone to be a content creator • Provides greater access to knowledge and information resources • Encourages media multiplexity • Expands and manages social networks
TWO-STEP FLOW MODEL OF INFLUENCE Source: Watts, DJ, Dodds, PS. (2007). Influentials, networks and public opinion formation. Journal of Consumer Research; 34.
NETWORK MODEL OF INFLUENCE Source: Watts, DJ, Dodds, PS. (2007). Influentials, networks and public opinion formation. Journal of Consumer Research; 34.
What Have We Learned in a Decade?
Using New Media Kaiser Family Foundation. New media and the future of public service advertising. April, 2006. • VERB (8372) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • Fight Mannequinism The Federal Voting Assistance Program and Ad Council • Above the Influence Office of National Drug Control Policy, Partnership for A Drug-Free America • National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Teen People • Small Step U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Ad Council • Girls Go Tech Girl Scouts of USA, Ad Council
New Media Cookie Cutter • Set up a web site with information and/or 'cool stuff' to interact with or download • Convert the PSAs and print material into digital formats • Promote like crazy through traditional media and the web (blogs, MySpace, viral, WOM) - now it's new! • Use cell phones and SMS as a response channel • Push messages and alerts out to participants who opt-in at the web site or through SMS to receive them • Measure results by eyeballs and click throughs Caution: Adherence to these principles will insure that you develop a program that uses new media and does not apply social technologies that fit into people ’ s lives and practices and help change behaviors in relevant ways.
FDA, CDC and HHS – The Peanut Recall 2009 3,800 products recalled as of 3/30/09
Product Recall Database FDA developed a recall database that enabled consumers to search for products by brand name, product description, and more.
Blogs • HHS and CDC blogs provided information about the product recalls and outbreak investigations and encourage comments and conversations. • The HHS Peanut Product Recall blog contained posts from CDC, FDA, and HHS. • The CDC National Center for Zoonotic, Vector Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED) blog contained salmonella-related information and updates (over 3,000 page views between 1/25 – 2/1).
Webinar for Bloggers On February 3 rd , 35 blog writers spoke with FDA and CDC subject matter experts about the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and peanut-containing products recall efforts, including current and future resources for bloggers during food safety incidents. Bloggers were provided with Web graphics to share with their readers.
Online Video FDA’s video on things you should know during the peanut butter and peanut-containing product recalls was available on both the FDA and CDC YouTube channels. FDA YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/USFoodandDrugAdmin CDC YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/CDCstreaminghealth/
Buttons and Badges • Online graphics allow partner organizations and citizens to display simple images and messaging related to the recall. • A series of 3 buttons were shared with partner federal agencies and organizations. • Two badges were made available on the CDC MySpace page for individuals to use.
Twitter FDA Recalls . Created for product recalls, this Twitter feed was a channel for communicating news and alerts during the recall efforts -- 2837 followers
The Little Widget That Could • Recall Widget – 15.5 million page views – Placed on 20,450 external websites, blogs and social network pages. • Recalls Database of Searchable Products – Over 22 million page views
Social Media in the News “The results were so overwhelmingly favorable that social media will unquestionably remain a central component of CDC’s communication efforts during future national outbreaks.” 2008 – 2009 Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Response. CDC After Action Report, May 18, 2009
Social Objects The reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else.
A social object is the centerpiece in a dialogue between two or more people.
If markets are conversations, then effective science communication is about the things that conversations are about.
In: Tchuenche JM & Chiyaka C. (2009). Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress .
What are the Implications for Your Social Media Practice? • Put social in your social media • Social media sites, people and applications have vastly differing capabilities. • Collaborate and co-create content • Create or point people to places where they can share experiences • Don’t think about big numbers, think ‘community’ • Honor the trust barometer • Follow professional standards
What’s Your Social Object? • It’s an ‘attract and join’ world, not a ‘reach and frequency’ one. • People don’t just connect to each other. They connect through a shared object. • Social networks consist of people who are connected by a shared object. • One of the most frequent ways people make objects social is by sharing them.
A Language of Consumer Centricity • Search • Proximity • Recommendation • Links • Discovery • Currency of information A Moore. The glittering allure of the mobile society. November 2008.
What’s Next? How and where can I facilitate conversations among people about science, rather than aiming messages at them?
What’s Missing? • Treat them as a target audience, and they will respond as one. • You’re not in it for only yourself, relationships are transactional. • Don’t create messages, create social objects. • Don’t disseminate messages, help them solve their problems.
What’s Next? How can we place- shift ; use co- presence through geo-fencing and augmented reality technologies with GPS to create on time, context- relevant science information?
What’s Next? How can we use voice activated technologies to deliver science communications where and when people want it (or need it)?
The most important asset in science communication is “having something worth talking about. ”
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