I don’t have an iPad nor have I seen one in person, but Jeff Jarvis’ review captures two of the bigger implications of this new technology that deserve your attention.
I’m not going to repeat all that Jarvis says in his review–I’ll let you read his words directly as his points are worth your time and consideration. Instead, I’ll add in my own comments.
On Web sites vs. Apps: As mobile marketing continues to grow and evolve across the board (fyi: Mobile Health Conference coming up in May), this will become an ever-greater question. Not just in terms of execution and strategy, but also in terms of analytics. Many organizations are just now getting a grasp on their Web site analytics and how the data can offer insight and direction regarding an organization’s overall mission and objectives. The next phase many are working to figure out–is how to measure and assess not just a Web site–but a Web presence. The division between a site-based Web and an app-based Web will throw in another element into the analytics puzzle.
On Content Consuming vs. Content Creating: I may not have an iPad, but I do have the Barnes and Noble Nook. I love my Nook, but I want to do so much more with it. Barnes and Noble, if you’re reading this, please borrow a page from Netflix. So, I understand Jarvis’ point. As a consumer, there are times when I appreciate that my Nook is an ereader–nothing else. But there are times–where I want more. With the ipad, you have some degree of more–but not everything. Like Jarvis said, you don’t even have a camera (which seemed odd to me when the iPad launched). I think there is a need for balance. I don’t want another mini computer that I can connect to my email and social networks. I also don’t want another phone or a super machine. What I do want–is a relaxing user environment where I have the option to create, share and consume at my leisure on my terms. But then again, maybe I’m not the audience for the iPad. Maybe there are those that just want to consume–and not create or distribute.
Thoughts on Publishing and Content: I find this conversation interesting not because of the Web vs. App conversation or the hardware vs. software talk, but more so because it gets to the heart of publishing and distribution of content. The development of e-readers are changing the world of publishing and how the traditional business-model of journalism operates. Many are hoping, that if done right, it can “save” journalism. But here’s the thing: Journalism does not need saving. Instead, it needs pioneering. Perhaps, the “business-model” of journalism is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we need our innovations… in my humble opinion.
In general, I agree with Jarvis’ main point about “implications.” How we maneuver down the road of information, communications and consumer-technology, will have implications. This is why, as consumers, it is important for us to know that our choices–where we spend our money, how we relate to information, how we choose to communicate, the type of content we consume and the type of content we produce–carries implications.
Your thoughts needed: Are the iPad, e-readers and tablets the best we can do?
*****
This post was originally going to be the quote of the week–but I couldn’t choose just one sentence to highlight as Jarvis’ whole article stretches one’s thinking.
]]>A Social Shout-out
Not only are good news items coming up, but I’ve also expanded my RSS reader with some blogs I encourage you to get to know:
Social Herder: If you don’t know Will Robinson, you might want to. Will writes on all things social entrepreneurship, non-profits and general do-goodery. You can catch Will at his blog, on Twitter, or at his current gig with Ogilvy PR.
Justice for All: If you are interested in a mash-up of human rights, social enterprise, democracy and law, then you’ll appreciate the enthusiasm of Northwestern senior Akhila Koliset. Not only do I share an interest in advocating human rights with Akhila, but I continue to be inspired by her passion and the voice with which she writes. You can tell she loves to be inspired as much as she is inspiring–just check out her reading list!
What We Give: You’ve probably heard of this one, but if not, you should. Larry Blumenthal is the director of social media strategy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and adds much value back to the marketplace through both his blog and on his Twitter stream where he talks about how social media is changing philanthropy.
What about you? Any newly discovered blogs or colleagues you’d like to give a social shout-out to?
PS: Often, these “nuggets” are shared sooner through my Twitter account. If you’re on Twitter, let’s connect @socialbttrfly.
]]>Because of statistics like those above, the concept of ‘Health 2.0’ has increased its usage and importance. Simply, Health 2.0 = the merging of social media into healthcare. However, others see the movement of Health 2.0 as something much wider and farther reaching. Even Google image searching shows a variety of more complex definitions. I’d be interested to see how you all define it for yourselves or for your practice.
Examples of Health 2.0
Websites
Wikis
Blogs
Social Networks
Video-Sharing
Online Forums
Podcasts
Caution
Health 2.0 researchers warn that patients should be cautious about posting personal health-related information through unsecured social media as health insurance providers could gain access to this information, as well as potential employers.
Future
Social Media combined with health information, patients and user-generated content can be used for:
For specific case studies and more information, view this report titled: The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media prepared for the California Healthcare Foundation by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn.
Questions to Ponder
Can’t wait to read your insights in the comments. =)
]]>First, let’s define a listserv. TechSoup, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit technology assistance agencies, who offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs, defines a listserv as:
“[an] electronic mailing lists that distributes written discussions to those who subscribe; each posted unit of a discussion shows up in the subscribers’ e-mail boxes. One of the most useful features of e-mail lists or listservs is the fact that you can send the same message to many people at once. Similarly, you can also receive many messages at once in a compiled and organized fashion.”
Social Marketing Listserv
The list is a place for those in academia, in research, and in practice to exchange information to advance the field, create discussion, present issues and debates, and encourage collaboration of resources. Alan Andreasen runs the list.
To join the Social Marketing listserv, subscribe to listproc@listproc.georgetown.edu through email and type subscribe soc-mktg <your name> in the message body (i.e., subscribe soc-mktg John Smith).
Social Marketing in Higher Education Listserv
The purpose for the Social Marketing in Higher Education Listserv is to allow engagement and participation in discussion of the application of evidence- and practice-based social marketing to bring about positive health and social change and enhanced learning on campuses. (taken from the website.)
To subscribe, you must go to this here and fill out the 5 second form.
Fostering Sustainable Behavior Listserv
The Fostering Sustainable Behavior Listserv currently has over 6000 subscribers from around the globe who are involved in delivering environmental programs.
To subscribe, send an email to fsb-on@cbsmlist.com You will receive a reply asking you to confirm your subscription. Once confirmed, you can post message by sending them to fsb@cbsmlist.com
American Communication Listserv
The Nonprofit-Social-Marketing Listserv
This smaller listserv I think is out of the UK. To subscribe to this list serv, you must fill out the 5 second online application found here.
ORG-MARKETING Listserv
This list focuses on the subject of marketing for non-profits and NGOs. A partial list of topics include PSAs, low (or no) budget marketing, promotion and advertising, surveys, service quality, marketing planning for non-profits, positioning, market models, relationship marketing, database marketing, and marketing ethics.
To subscribe to Org-Marketing, send the following command to the server listserv@amic.com in the BODY of the e-mail: SUBSCRIBE Org-Marketing
Nonprofit-Net Listserv
This list covers nonprofit and internet related topics. To subscribe, send the email message ‘SUB NONPROFIT-NET’ to: listproc@lists.nonprofit.net
Webcontent.gov Listserv (for Federal employees only) Web Content Managers Listserv
This list is open to web content managers from any level of U.S. Government: federal, state, and local. Since the purpose of this group is to exchange ideas among those of us who are in these roles, they do not admit contractors or other private individuals.
To subscribe, send an email to webmanager@hud.gov with ‘web content managers listserv’ in the subject line along with your email address, name, job title, and agency.
More
***
Please leave the name of your favorite and helpful listserv in the comments. From my search, I have a feeling there are many more out there! Or, which ones, out of them all, do you find most helpful?
]]>
Joe posed the question that asked for research that shows why providing people with information does not change behavior alone…aka: how do you show the value of investing in social marketing?
The listserv showed its wisdom, value and use by its overwhelming response. The responses full of resources, tips and ideas are summarized below, thanks to Joe’s help.
Individual attribution to comments have been erased to protect the person’s privacy. Also, these comments are made by individuals and do not reflect the attitudes of the entire social marketing list serv or the author of this blog. But, it should provide some great food for thought and perhaps offer some ideas for effective social marketing. In no particular order…
Comments
1. Some people think information alone changes behaviors. Ask them this: Do most people in America know thateating less and being more active will lead to weight loss? Knowing that, we should all be thin, right, because we all know this
I have spent the last eight years using emotion to influence health related behaviors. Check out one project at this website that shows how emotions could be used to change health-related behaviors: www.touchingheartstouchingminds.com
All marketing research says that emotions drive behaviors, not logic and fact alone. There are hundreds of books you could suggest, but here’s a simple one: Marketing Straight to the Heart by Barry Fieg
2. I don’t know of any one definitive study, but the example I often use is smoking. Numerous studies show that ‘everyone’ or at least the vast majority know that smoking is harmful, so giving people the facts just
isn’t enough.
3. I’m sure you could find information to this effect on the WHO site under health promotion. I believe also that Green & Kreuter discuss this with the PRECEDE-PROCEED model.
4. I would recommend you take a look at the ways that Safe Routes to School has opted to address the challenge of getting more kids to be active by walking or biking to school. The most broad and brief description of our issue is that involves changing behaviors to combat childhood obesity and also teach safety. Together with bicycle advocacy in general we’ve found that it’s not just education, but also encouragement, enforcement and engineering. Programs that don’t have a good balance of the 4 e’s don’t seem to be effective. I’d be happy to give you more information if you find it appropriate.
5. To that I would add the same thought around drinking and driving. Not only do people know it’s bad and potentially very harmful, it is even against the law, yet people continue to engage in the behavior.
6. How about these:
Tobacco. For a decade we let people know that tobacco kills one out of three people. It wasn’t until we began increasing taxes (price), decreasing access for minors (place), making people smoke outside (ambiance), and providing quit lines (products) that we saw significant decrease (about 50% decrease since 1964).
Seatbelts. Letting people know that “we love you so buckle up” only got about half of us to do it. It took primary seatbelt laws, increased fines, more comfortable seatbelts, “ding ding ding” sounds as reminders.
Recycling. Look at the low rates of recycling before we began providing containers (products) and streetside pickup (place) and in come communities fines for putting recyclables into garbage cans (price).
Organ Donation: We would not have the numbers of organ donors (although still not what we need) if we didn’t have sign up when getting/renewing our drivers license (Place).
Voting: Oregon has the highest voting rates in the country because they have the (only) vote-by-mail (place).
7. Here are a couple of other sources from the public health field:
http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/NIAAACollegeMaterials/TaskForce/CallToAction_02.aspx#CallToAction_02_d
This one talks about ineffective strategies related to college students and alcohol.
You could also check: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/index.html I believe that they probably have some statements in their reviews about the ineffectiveness of straight education efforts.
8. Ok, here’s the grand daddy: What customers Think by Gerald Zaltman of Harvard School of Business. A painful book to read, but it is loaded with tons of research studies documenting that feelings are more important than facts. Don’t buy the book–it’s not one you’ll love to read. It’s in almost every library. Other (less painful) options: The Marketing Power of Emotion by John and Nicholas O’Shaughnessy by Oxford press. Body of Truth: Leveraging what consumers can’t or won’t say by Dan Hill. Who am I: The 16 Basic desires that motivate our actions and define our personalities by Steven Reiss of Ohio State. I’ve attached an article by him for a quick start.
9. I find it also helps to provide an example of when communication alone does work so they can see the difference in the factors that influence behavior. The example I like is SIDS. When we communicated that all you need to do is put your child to sleep on his back, the behavior change was readily adopted. But how hard is it to do that behavior. It doesn’t require any special equipment or special/skilled knowledge or special kind of person to do the action. Unless there is a cultural taboo against sleeping on one’s back, then this was easy to get people to do with communication alone. Not to mention that the potential outcome was highly prized and the opposite behavior could lead to catastrophic outcomes. So it was east to cut through the clutter, be heard, and be motivated — all pretty much with just communication. Then I show them Nancy Lee’s examples and point out why communication alone didn’t change behavior initially.
10. The challenge in finding research is this is one of those “it depends” issues. In some cases, such as when there is a severe threat and an easy-to-perform action, information IS enough to change the behavior of many — two examples I recall are putting babies on their back to sleep to avoid Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and not giving children aspirin to avoid Reye’s Syndrome.
However, in many other cases, information alone isn’t. Mike Rothschild’s “Carrots, Sticks and Promises” article may either be what you need or point you to it — especially the discussion of the Motive, Opportunity, Ability framework (e.g., for info alone to work, one must have the motivation, opportunity and ability to make the change). You can find it here: http://www.social-marketing.org/papers/carrotarticle.pdf
This is old, but the proceedings from a USDA-sponsored evaluation conference meet the “easy, understandable language” criterion and may help you; a focus of the conference was the situations in which nutrition education “works” and some of the speakers make the points you are probably
trying to find documented: http://www.nal.usda.gov/foodstamp/FOODSTAMPREPORTS/FSP-37.PDF Isobel
Contento’s session should reference a published lit review that draws some of the same conclusions. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at this document, but some of the discussion was around the many situations in which the Knowledge-attitude-behavior paradigm just doesn’t work, and the need to also address the environment in which the behavior is taking place.
11. The example I use when presenting is to ask people to raise their hands if they know that eating right and getting regular exercise are important for good health (almost all hands go up). Then I ask how many people in the room actually do eat right and get enough exercise (half or so will raise their hands).
12. I think CSAP’s (SAMHSA’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technology) environmental approach to alcohol abuse, misuse and underage drinking prevention may offer support for your argument. There is little doubt that a comprehensive approach to substance abuse prevention is the most effective means to see positive results. CSAP basically suggests besides information dissemination and education, policy change and alternatives are necessary for success. http://www.captus.org/Western/resources/bp/step6/bpcsap.cfm Another organization, PIRE, (Pacific Institute for Research Evaluation) provides more than adequate data to support the necessary inclusion of policy change to reduce DUI’s and underage drinking. You can find that data on their site. http://www.pire.org/index.asp I’ve believed that the three legged stool metaphor is appropriate for alcohol misuse prevention. Information dissemination, alternatives and policy change are the legs that support behavioral change. Many would argue that addressing individual factors included in the universal, school, family and peer environments also need to be addressed and I would have a difficult time arguing with that. The bottom line is comprehensive approaches are best. I hope this helps.
13. You might want to look at the accessible work of Larry Green, who developed the PRECEDE-PROCEED models for (health) behavior change. His web site http://www.lgreen.net/precede.htm notes that there some 960 published studies that apply this model and he includes a link to a bibliography. There is also the body of work by Martin Fishbein at UPenn. His two key contributions to behavior change research: the Theory of Reasoned Action and Expectancy-Value Theory might bolster your (correct) assertion that it takes more than information to change behavior. You need to understand the larger context of how people perceive and value the information, and how attitude plays a major role. Wikipedia has accessible explanations of this scientifically rigorous work. Hope this helps. Web sites of other government agencies, such as the National Cancer Institute, may help. They have huge programs studying how to optimize communication (they don’t refer to it as social marketing, but that’s what it is) in order to produce behavior change. NCI’s Pink Book (aka Making Health Communication Programs Work) is a concrete example of what another gov’t agency is doing in this arena.
14. While in my graduate program in public health we learned that effective programs must include components of Knowledge Attitude and behavior change. Please check out the following resource on tools for Behavior Change Communication: http://www.infoforhealth.org/inforeports/BCCtools/2.shtml Under the section labeled “Understand Audience and other Potential Participants..” Collect in depth information about the audience: What are their knowledge attitudes and beliefs about health? To further support your argument you can also refer to the basic rules of evaluation… Establishing program objectives and deciding the particular evidence (such as the specific knowledge, attitudes, or behavior) that will demonstrate that the objectives have been met. A key to successful evaluation is a set of clear, measurable, and realistic program objectives. If objectives are unrealistically optimistic or are not measurable, the program may not be able to demonstrate that it has been successful even if it has done a good job. http://www.evaluationwiki.org/index.php/Evaluation_Definition I hope this is of help to you.
Still with us?? =)
15. Check out the US Forest Service’s research station. An excellent contact there is Pat Winter, PhD, a USFS employee who conducts research that may relate to your mission as well. At least, you can show that federal agencies understand the value of social marketing and are active in defining how it can be used to meet their goals.
16. I hope this helps. This article tells of a specific program that helps in drinking and driving in a Texas City. I have not analyzed the methods, but sounds very interesting. Also the Dept of Texas funds a drinking and driving program for young adults. The program is run by an Sherry Matthews Advocacy Agency in Austin, if you need more info let me know. The website is: http://whosdrivingtonight.com/
17. You can try searching this reference-see below for a brief summary (Redman, Spencer and Sanson-Fisher, 1990) though it’s a bit outdated, it might give you a bit of a start. This was taken from page 10 of The Health Communication Unit’s resource booklet on communication campaigns.
http://www.thcu.ca/infoandresources/publications/OHCMasterWorkbookv3.2.mar26.07.pd
When applied on their own-without complementary strategies such as community mobilization-the ability of some health communication campaigns to effect change is limited. In particular, a large body of evidence suggests that health communication campaigns relying exclusively on media appeals are not a sufficient means of changing attitudes and behaviour. In some contrast to the meta analysis found on this page, recent review of 24 published evaluations of health promotion programs revealed that media alone interventions had little impact on behaviour (Redman, Spencer and Sanson-Fisher, 1990).
18. Of course, the answer is (as it always seems to be when you look closely), “it depends.” On the behavior in question, that is. A very good scientific discussion of the if/thens is provided in Leslie Snyder’s meta-analysis. The reference is: Snyder LB. J Nutr Educ Behav. Health communication campaigns and their impact on behavior. 2007 Mar-Apr;39(2 Suppl):S32-40.
19. I think this might help you out a bit…(abstract) This paper proposes that stigma in relation to people with mental illness can be understood as a combination of problems of knowledge (ignorance), attitudes (prejudice) and behaviour (discrimination). From a literature review, a series of candidate interventions are identified which may be effective in reducing stigmatisiation and discrimination at the following levels: individuals with mental illness and their family members; the workplace; and local, national and international. The strongest evidence for effective interventions at present is for (i) direct social contact with people with mental illness at the individual level, and (ii) social marketing at the population level. http://www.ijmhs.com/content/2/1/3
20. This is an issue I deal with all the time and there’s tons of research to the contrary. Most behaviour change theories use some variant of the motivation, opportunity, ability model where knowledge is just one aspect of ability. If there’s no opportunity to behave or motivation to behave knowledge alone won’t work. Here’s one reference: Keller, Kevin Lane. “Memory Retrieval Factors and Advertising Effectiveness.” In Advertising Exposure, Memory and Choice, edited by Andrew A. Mitchell. New Jersey; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1993. If you’d like more please let me know. In an ideal world I’d suggest doing a KAPB survey and asking the same questions of those who already do what you want and those who don’t.
Ask a bunch of knowledge questions as well as other motivation, opportunity and ability questions. If the knowledge levels of those who behave and those who don’t behave are the same it’s clearly not the key thing driving behaviour and sadly this data is often necessary to finally convince people not to focus on knowledge.
21. Perhaps the point is not so much providing evidence to this person(there is lots of that), but acknowledging that they do have a point and then showing them evidence that while info alone can bring about change, enhancing the info/facilitating/etc etc can bring about greater change & faster. The fact is that many people do change their behavior on the basis of information alone. The Sloan-Kettering report on cancer & tobacco tar in 1953 and the 1964 Surgeon-General’s report on smoking were both followed by declines in smoking rates without any campaigns or other measures. However smoking rates began (and continued) to decline significantly when advertising campaigns dramatized & personalized the information. (Of course not all behaviours are the same — nor are all people – and that is another point).
Hope this helps! =)
]]>I recently got the opportunity to meet Andre through a Social Marketing Meetup he planned in Washington D.C. with Nedra Weinreich of the blog Spare Change. Thus, I nominated him for this week’s Blogger Neighborhood, as he too values both online and offline exchange. Enjoy!
photo credit: the woodstove
***************
Blog Name: Pulse and Signal
Blog Topics: Health Communication, Health Education, Social Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Behavior
About the Author: Andre Blackman graduated with a degree in Public and Community Health in 2005 but has had a passion for science/technology ever since he could remember. He loves to meet new, interesting people and think about ways to make the world just a little better. He is a firm believer in the power of people coming together for a common good and is interested in using social technologies to improve the health of others through better health communications. I use Twitter a lot (follow me @mindofandre).
If you could live on any street, what would that street be named and why?
Changemaker Lane, I want to live on a street that continually reminds me of what I should have done that day as I leave and as I come home.
Who would be your dream real-life neighbor?
I have a few but at the moment, Tiger Woods. He is focused, a family man and he runs an awesome foundation that I hope to emulate.
What first prompted you to blog?
After nearly 2 years of reading blogs and thinking about both health and technology, I decided to take the leap and start writing those thoughts down. Not too long into the blogging, I started making great friends through online communication tools and that continued to fuel my excitement for blogging!
If you customized your own license plate, what would it say and why?
URWRLD – in this day and age more than ever people have the opportunities to fulfill their dreams and achieve their personal goals…it’s your world.
What would you gift to a new neighbor as the perfect welcoming gift?
A REAL list of best places to eat and attractions in the town/city to visit. You know the corporate ones lie sometimes!
What’s your favorite blog post and why?
It would probably be when I wrote “The Importance of Sleep in the Wired Generation.” This was one of the first posts I wrote that got decent attention and even the Sleep Foundation chimed in on the comments section. It was important to me because of what I saw happening to a couple people I knew (including myself!) when trying to keep up with all the social media buzz and Web events. You barely get sleep! And lack of sleep has some detrimental effects.
What’s one lesson you’ve learned from blogging?
The importance of interacting with others – the more you comment and make genuine relationships with others, the more you get back, probably even more so.
Past Blogger Neighbors Include:
*************************
This continuous weekly series highlights different blogs and their respective bloggers in the blogosphere neighborhood. Following the great Mr. Rogers, who tells us to ‘Get to know your neighbor,’ this series introduces us to our blogger neighbors, making for a more unified, collaborative voice for the social sector. Like to nominate someone or be featured yourself? Contact me @ socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.
]]>Today, the beta for Google Health officially launched. With my blog, I try to bring up points on both sides, and pose questions for discussion, and here I definitely may need your help seeing more of the positives…or educating me on how the danger of the drawbacks is being decreased. With Google Health allowing the option of importing of medical records and information, tracking medical histories and all being added into the giant that is Google, I feel there are reasons for concern.
According to the site, Google Health can
Automatically, upon reading this, I see a big challenge Google will face in launching this service: getting people to provide their medical records. I already am hesitant. Just how secure of a network will this be? I like to aim for objectivity, but with this new product, I will need your help as I see a few benefits, but many more drawbacks.
Benefits
Drawbacks
Does the data I store in Google Health get used for other Google products, like Search?
Yes, we share information between Google products to enable joint feautres. But no personal or medical information in your Google Health profile is used to customize your Google.com search results or used for advertising. For example, you could not search for your personal medical records on Google.com search.
Seems like we have to now with Facebook, continue to possibly update our security settings to secure our information.
How It Works
Google lists 7 Steps to Easy Use of Google Health
Survey Says…
The Jury is still out…
]]>