Why Social Media Matters – Advice About STDs & More

A recent article about crowdsourcing for advice about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in the Journal of the American Medical Association (see Requests For Diagnoses Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases On A Social Media Platform) has prompted quite the discussion about the increasingly popular use of social media for guidance about health issues. It also begs the question of how health and human service executives factor social media into consumer engagement strategies.

The study found that the number of monthly posts on Reddit about STDs have doubled in the past year - and more than a third included a photo (see When Strangers . . .