Social Media and Swine Flu

Over the past few weeks the story of the H1N1 virus (aka: swine flu) has taken over the media. You can't tune into the local news, national news, even log onto the Internet or walk down the street and say hi to your neighbors without being inundated with messages about signs, symptoms and statistics about this emerging health issue. It can be overwhelming and, to be honest, a little scary at times.

Here in Colorado, the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) has done a great job leveraging social media to offer Coloradans news about the virus in bite-sized, consumer-friendly messages that has made the H1N1 virus a lot easier to understand and, quite frankly, a little less scary. On a Web page specifically dedicated to the H1N1 virus, Colorado residents can sign up for free e-mail updates each time the page's information about H1N1 is updated. The page also provides links to the information about H1N1 translated into a variety of languages including Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic, to name just a few. CDPHE has also provided links to practical and informative videos and podcasts such as "How To Wash Your Hands" and "H1N1 Flu Preparedness."

GroundFloor Media was honored to work with CDPHE on one of its first social media programs through the What If Colorado? campaign - and we're thrilled to see that the foundation built during that campaign is still in place.