Text4baby is a text messaging service for expecting and new mothers with babies up to the age of 1 year. This program is intended to educate mothers on how to care for themselves during pregnancy and for their child during the first year of life.

This program was developed through a private-public partnership, with partners that include U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, MTV, The Wellness Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, George Washington University, and many more.

A women can register by texting “baby” or “bebe” for Spanish to 511411. Text messages are sent each week that are timed according to the woman’s due date or their baby’s birthday. Several wireless providers have agreed to provide the text messages free of charge.

What a great example of community members coming together to improve the health of our mothers and children!

Tagged as: child health, maternal health, pregnancy, social media

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Lately, in my own personal journey to research the H1N1 vaccine, I have run into a flurry of helpful and inventive social media tools online.

At the forefront of this seems to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – who have begun using social media tools including Twitter, YouTube, widgets, social networking sites and podcasts to deliver dependable and up-to-date information to the public and health professionals and to reach new audiences.

On the CDC Novel H1N1 Flu Web page, you can find a list of applications, including a Twitter feed for emergency information including H1N1 flu, buttons, badges, e-cards, a mobile version of the website and a texting pilot project, which provides information on seasonal flu, H1N1 flu and public health emergencies and more.

Smart move by the CDC. I am sure they will prove helpful to thousands as the H1N1 flu continues to spread across the country.

Tagged as: CDC, Facebook, H1N1, social media, twitter

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This weekend, I will be co-presenting a full-day workshop with colleagues Mark Marosits and Monica Strachan. Our team has presented extensively on public health, emergency preparedness, behavior change and social media, but this special all-day Learning Intensive presented in association with the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting will explore new case studies and recommended best practices for using technology to advance program objectives.

This presentation comes on the heels of a successful speaking engagement at the Colorado Nonprofit Association’s Fall Meeting, where Mark and I presented on “Social Media and Online Collaboration: Sharing Resources, Gaining Strength”. There are countless “Social Media 101″ sessions available for interested parties, and we sought to focus on a possible application for social media (collaboration) rather than the specific tools themselves. This different approach was well-received by attendees who already felt fairly comfortable with the tools and were looking for “the next step”.

The Learning Institute will capitalize on the strengths of the three presenters: Mark, as a senior marketing strategist, Monica as a public health professional interested in measurable outcomes, and my background in the social media/technology space. I am looking forward to the depth of the presentation and am confident attendees will get what they hope from the session.

Tagged as: apha, canpo, presentations, social media, training

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This morning I woke up to drive in rush hour traffic, almost not even aware of what day it was, when I saw a flag at half mast. As I looked at my phone to see the time, I realized it was Friday, September 11.

Quickly, my mind turned to that day, eight years ago. I was at my college, waiting for the doors to open outside of the Journalism lecture hall. As usual, there were televisions broadcasting news everywhere in the Journalism building, and I barely paid attention to them as I was usually catching up on last minute reading before class.

As the doors opened, and I entered class, there was the giant screen, with the image of the second plane crashing into the Twin Towers.

It was dead silent and I was in complete shock.

Like me, many Americans remember exactly where they were that day, what they were wearing, who they were with – and social media is giving all of us a chance to share our memories, accounts of lost loved ones and experiences that happened eight years ago today.

On Twitter (), numerous hashtags are being used to remember 9/11. I encourage all of us to remember, share and join together in remembering those who lost their lives, and those (like many of us who were young) that lost a big part of their innocence that day. Here are some of the most popular hastags of the day:

#whereiwas is being used to share accounts of where tweeters were when the attacks occured

#remember911 is a tag for sharing memories, opinions, sentiments and general feelings

#neverforget is being used to remember those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

Tagged as: 9/11, rememberance, social media, twitter

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