HHS Uses Social Media to Spread the Message in a Sticky Situation

Posted by: Scott Johnson, Co-Founder and Principal Mar 12, 2009 0 Comments

Yesterday, while attending a web analytics conference hosted by the super-secret Web Managers Roundtable, I bumped into Ann Poritzky who told me of a smart new social media initiative at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

When I got back to the office and did some searching, I found a link to the short news release issued by HHS. The announcement focused on the agency’s use of social media resources in alerting the public to the recent peanut butter/Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak. The release lists the different types of social media being used—widgets, podcasts, Twitter, and a blog—and provides a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) social media portal.

This is a great example of HHS harnessing the power of social media in a way that allows them to more effectively serve the public. They’re taking their subject matter expertise to the people, rather than keeping important knowledge locked in their own databases and websites. They’re actively taking part in connecting people with information. Critical health information now flows in both directions.

I often hear of even senior people in the government having to get waivers to use social media sites. A colleague in an agency that I won’t name is blocked from using even the most useful government social media sites like GovLoop. The irony is that she works in the agency’s “Office of Business Transformation.”

Hopefully, HHS’s latest foray into social media is expediting the process of knocking down walls inside government agencies so that forward-looking civil servants can engage more effectively with the public and each other.

We’re impressed!

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Scott Johnson

Co-Founder and Principal

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