Embracing social media in the NHS

Gayle Culross, Communications Manager, NHS Tayside

*in the time that it takes to read this, another 14 people will have joined Facebook

*1 billion people like this:

“The use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue between organisations, communities and individuals.”Source: Wikipedia

What is social media?

Don’t underestimate its reach!

has more than 1 billion active users worldwide with 552 million of them logging on every day

has more than 500 million active users, handling 1.6 billion search queries and generating 340 million tweets per day

has more than 175 million registered users in more than 200 countries

has more than 800 million users with 60 hours of video content uploaded every minute

Where it all started…

• NHS Tayside Facebook and Twitter pages launched in July 2010

• Other health promotion pages followed – e.g. Heartstart, Smoke-free Services, Focus on Alcohol, Healthy Working Lives

Facebook.com/nhstayside

Twitter.com - @nhstayside

And where we are now...

• Over 1300 followers on Facebook with a possible reach of over 215,000 people

• Over 3000 followers on Twitter with an average of 40 - 50 interactions per week

But it’s not just ‘for the kids’

• Nearly 75% of NHS Tayside Facebook followers are aged between 25 and 54

• Nearly 23% of followers are over 45• 75.3% of followers are female• 19% of followers live in rural areas

So how did we get here?

• Researched other public sector users

• Presented business case to executive team

• Produced staff ‘media guidelines’• Set up pages and promoted both

internally and externally

Turning sceptics into believers• There was still resistance among

executive team• Worries over moderation of pages• Fear of abuse by the general public

And then...

September 2010

December 2010

What can social media do for you?

• Gather real-time feedback on service redesign proposals

• Promote events and national campaigns

• Encourage two-way discussion• Encourage stakeholder participation

via questionnaires, polls etc• Share information in real time• Analyse visitors to your page

• Drive traffic to websites• Share video content• #Hashtag at live events -

#SHINESD13• Start a ‘trend’ with popular topics

and link to your page @nhstayside• Retweet interesting tweets• Let others find your content with

#hashtagging

But wait...

Will clients or work colleagues be able to see my embarrassing holiday snaps on Facebook?

How do I get people to ‘like’ my page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter?

How can I get rid of the sponsored adverts at the side of my Facebook page?

What if someone posts something unpleasant or damaging to your reputation on our Facebook or Twitter page?

The good...

The bad...

And the ugly...

• Ensure all staff are aware of the Social Media Guidelines

• You will need to adopt a protocol to deal with complaints and compliments online

• You will need to ensure your social media platforms are monitored out of hours

Questions?