Saw this at a conference and it is interesting to see that more companies are starting to think about the platform and not just let us update our Facebook profile as a marketing channel. Also interesting is the offline complementing the online which again is something I firmly believe in (for the moment).
At the same time, rather scary that so much data of teens who obviously are excited and (on a sugar rush?) being monitored 24/7 - if they choose to be of course...
I think the tech is obviously expensive and for a big brand this may be a useful way of engaging offline and online. But I think there may be something in it for small brands and NFP too. Maybe not now but for the future.
Want to grab the attention of Generation Y? Here's how Facebook Places could help
As a proud member of Generation Y - the generation born after 1980 - I am often asked how to engage young people.
As a group we are said to be more ethically conscious than other generations, and we want to make a difference to the world. But we have shorter attention spans, question everything and can come across as arrogant. Doesn’t sound too different to every generation that has gone before us before taxes, bills and all of those other grown-up things come into play, does it?
What marks us out from previous generations is that we have had access to the internet and social media during our formative years. Other generations didn’t. Not being able to meet and collaborate with other like-minded people was probably the downfall of a lot of great ideas in the past.
Now we are just a Facebook group away from being able to meet people who share our ideas and goals. Look at how fundraising or volunteering has changed: every summer, we are inundated with links to donate to JustGiving pages, which in turn enable us to share and ask people to donate to our cause.
Location-based services are set to take this connectivity to the next level. I was an early adopter of services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, but I always knew it would take Facebook to dip its toe in for location-based services to become mainstream. That's why last week's announcement on the launch of Facebook Places was music to my ears.
What excites me about it is the possibilities to engage new audiences into traditional third- sector areas of business, such as shops and events.
For example, Foursquare allows businesses to add special offers if people visit or become “mayor” of a particular location. Imagine you are logged into Foursquare and see the local charity shop is offering two-for-one to people who check in there. This tactic may attract younger people who don't usually visit charity shops. Of course, the shop needs to have good stock and look appealing. But location-based services would be the first step to capturing that new generation of customers.
With Facebook Places also comes the functionality to advertise your “place” or location. This is great news, as it means that you can target users in a very specific way.
The principle is the same as Facebook ads, which allow business to promote pages to specific groups of people. But we can now make the experience even more personal and local. For example, if you run a charity shop in Rochdale, you can target a new audience by advertising your “place” only to those Facebook users who have mentioned Rochdale on the site - again, another way of promoting traditional charity to a new audience.
Another by-product of Facebook Places is that instead of having a fragmented social-
media space where a charity has a Facebook page or group for every one of its shops or events, they can now be listed as locations, which allows a more consistent approach.
Start small and wear the software in. Location-based services are new, and they will take time to mature. If there are no big results early on, keep trying.
The key thing to remember is young people are no different from any other group. They want to be treated on a level playing field, be more than a token thought and to actually have their ideas and efforts considered and given time of day. Be honest and open with what you are trying to achieve and why you want to achieve it. A positive experience will capture the loyalty of Generation Y for a long time.
Which brings me onto crowdsourcing...but that might be another blog.
God this political system is really frustrating. My vote is worth 0.04 % in my constituency of Hackney South & Shoreditch.
I am not sure what a better system would look like, as PR doesn't particularly appeal either. Can't the most intelligent people in the world think of a better way?
Anyway, the site is simple to use and while frustrating is actually very useful and interesting.
Have to say first of all that I do work at the BHF so that is one reason I am sharing it. BUT mainly because the viral is so well put together, the site: www.activefat.org.uk is fits really well with the campaign. The British Heart Foundation is working with Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK to show that active fat can have a real effect on your heart as well as cause some cancers and diabetes.
Do share the video, the full Press Release is here:
A new survey today reveals that 97 per cent of people in Britain are unaware that their beer bellies and muffin tops are generating higher levels of oestrogen and excess chemicals in their stomachs, putting them at risk of cancer, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease (1).
But worryingly, nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of people admit to carrying excess weight around their middle, and more than half (57 per cent of women and 55 per cent of men) overestimate the waist measurement at which they become at risk (2).
The results of the survey, which questioned 2,085 adults in Great Britain, were released as Diabetes UK, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) launched their new ‘Active Fat' campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of carrying extra weight around your middle.
The charities are urging people to measure their waistlines and make positive changes to their lifestyles if they are at risk.
They have also produced a new web animation featuring a sinister fat cell, which helps to show people that instead of lying around harmlessly, our fat cells are actually very active and working around the clock to stimulate disease (3).
Dr Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director for the British Heart Foundation, said: “That ‘harmless' spare tyre around your waist is actually a major health hazard. While you might be relaxing at home, your fat cells are working overtime to pump out excess hormones and other chemicals that can cause disease.
“Wrapping a tape measure around your middle takes just a few seconds, but it could be your vital first step towards a healthier a future.”
The charities are also calling for the European Parliament to support people to make healthier food choices by bringing in a single front-of-pack food labelling system across Europe.
Diabetes UK Care Advisor Libby Dowling said: “If you're used to pounds and ounces, it's extremely confusing to go into a shop that only deals in grams and kilograms. It's the same with food labelling systems - we need one system that includes traffic light colours to help busy supermarket shoppers make informed food choices.”
Professor Jane Wardle, director of Cancer Research UK's Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London, said: “Little changes that can become daily habits are the best, as they usually require less effort and can act as the building blocks of a much bigger lifestyle picture. Waist size is likely to increase throughout life, so whatever your age, today is a good day to start improving your health.”
The survey also found that:
• Women were less likely than men to worry about their health as a result of carrying excess weight around their middle (41 per cent of women compared to 50 per cent of men), and more likely to worry about how they look (28 per cent of women to 18 per cent of men) and fitting into their clothes (18 per cent of women to 9 per cent of men)
• Less than half of men and women (44 per cent) have tried doing more physical activity in response to carrying excess weight around their middle
• More than a quarter of people (27 per cent) have bought bigger sized clothes , approximately one in seven (15 per cent) have covered up on the beach, and approximately one in eight (12 per cent) have avoided weighing themselves altogether.
To help people to trim their tummies, Cancer Research UK, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation are sharing their top tips on losing weight through their joint campaign website.
People can learn more about active fat and take a lifestyle check at www.activefat.org.uk .
The campaign is also being supported by former ‘Apprentice' television contestant and business woman Claire Young.
Ms Young said: “ As someone whose family has been affected by heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, I know just how important it is to look after your health. My mum and I recently reduced our waistlines by making small, everyday changes to our lifestyles, and I'm encouraging others out there to measure their own waistlines and make changes if their health is at risk.”
Found this on the Mashable website. Fantastic as ever insight into social media.
Key points:
-While sponsored content provided the most user interaction (and was the least likely to be perceived as advertising), it also triggered the lowest level of purchase intent and the fewest viral recommendations.
-Corporate profiles are effective but they work better when users can become a fan of the profile and add a logo to their own page.
- More people engage with give/get widgets than with banner ads, however widgets do not increase purchase intent or viral recommendations.
-Regardless of format, the most effective advertisements were those that were related to the content on the publisher’s website (i.e. a soup advertisement on a cooking website).
- Of the seven advertising types, banner ads and newsletter links were the most successful at encouraging purchase intent
This conference was from the Association for Young People’s health. It was very well attended. I am chasing up all the slides from this so that I can share them but this is the best I can do – all my notes were written at the time.
What can we learn from the media about promoting health to Young People?
Michael Rich, Harvard
• Growing up in the Media Age: Potentials and Pitfalls • Does Media have influence on our social/mental health? • These days it is acquired health risks that cause Young People to die – sex/drugs/obesity….….Where do they get that from? Exposure to media/entertainment online and video games and TV. • US Media Exposure 8-18 • Use media 7 hours 38 mins each day… • More homes have more than 1 TV than there are homes with only 1 TV. • More chance of being obese if in front of TV/Screen (RK comment Statistics please/source please? )
However…
• There is a difference between educational TV against entertainment TV…apparently young people who watch educational TV during younger years are better at school and this carries on though adulthood….
RK comment how we know what is educational and what is entertainment. Where are his sources coming from?
• Learn violence from TV…? 61% 95-97 all programming portrays violence…
• Young People witness 200,000 acts of violence and 18,000 acts of murder before the age of 14 . (RK Comment: Again – statistics/source/date please?)
“All media are educational”
(RK comment: Is this not contradictory to educational TV – Is this guy for or against media? My current feeling is against.)
• Hmm – media exposure related to aggression….
• Kids influenced by smoking in TV and movies
RK comment hmm – what is the legalities of this now? Are there laws stopping smoking in movies now? I know that movies are timeless in that you can watch a film made in the 60s now but has the law changed?
• Media use associated with increased initiation of alcohol use in 9th graders…. (RK Broken Record Comment: Statistics/source/date?)
Body image – the media depicts body image in a different way to how it really is. Rise in online sites that are for pro anorexia and idea of “Thins-piration”
Sex – in media.
Those who watch sexual media become more sexually active earlier. Same with YP who listen to sexually degrading music.
(RK comment: Again where is this source, how was this even researched? I really am not sure if he is for or against the media. He has a centre of media addiction which makes me feel a bit awkward listening to this – is this just a Trans-Atlantic sales push?
Video Games
Biggest part of entertainment industry. Are behavioural scripts…and cues. The user is put behind a gun and has to shoot. Embedded into the “entertainment”
RK Comment: What about the news? How much violence or harrowing
images are on the news, how does this impact on YP? Now that would have been interesting
He now shows us the website candystand.com and through a series of click throughs or mistaken URL’s you can land on a NAZI site. That HAS to be a bit of a stretch?
Mobile
Converging media platform. People online 24/7. Society is concerned but clueless…
Internet makes things stick more than in the past.
Sexting – the perfect storm of technology and development/curiosity. The internet is permanent
(RK comment – okay I can let this slide but no, it isn’t permanent – cases of sites having to take images down cause of legality including nudity make sexting different.)
RK summary Hmm is he selling his Centre on Media and Child Health? Hmm. He seems to have a simplistic view that media is causing all this – the more Young People are exposed to media the more violent and sexually active they are. This might be the case (though that is a bit too black and white for me) but where are is stats? What research is he citing? He gives us no idea of other issues, parents, family, genetics and environment and how that causes issue. I am not impressed.
Workshop: Health information online – Improving young people’s skills [Nicola Gray / NHS Choices]
This session was split into two. Nicola Gray spoke from a research (outdated in my view) point of view and a chap from NHS choices showed off their fantastic NHS choices site, which – by the way – cost £80 Million pounds. Sterling.
So…Dr Nicola Gray
She talks about a piece of research she undertook in 2001 on health information online (I am hoping to put them on slideshare asap). But a piece of research about online in 2001? Might as well have been 20 years ago in terms of the differences and how we use the internet. Especially in Young People. Is she flogging a dead horse? Me thinks so…
She is asking the question of where and how Young people find content and reliable content online, issues such as spelling are an issue to searching.
Again I find this piece of research hard to find relevant, it was done in 2001. 9 years ago the internet was such a different landscape it is almost unbelievable.
Finally onto the £80 million website. Interesting start as the chap begins with “In many ways we are our own worst…” stopping short there and moving on. I speculate he was going to say “…enemy as our 80,000 practitioners in the NHS don’t use it.” The 80,000 figure is one he mentions later on in his presentation.
Believes the NHS choice is a bad name for the site. Doesn’t say why but can understand that. It is not particularly insightful into what choices it is giving you.
NHS choices gains 8-9 million users a month.
The NHS choices site is now looking for accreditation from sources. To make sure that the content and information is relevant and correct. Fair enough – I guess it just adds to the selling point as a health resource.
The NHS is developing mobile sites for all NHS content.
Interestingly the NHS are approaching sports associations and sports clubs to syndicate NHS content on such sites as the FA, RFU and other such sites. They will also be looking to develop links with Community Development officers and sports clubs in order to push the message to the Young People they see every week… – Nice opportunity if you can get it.
He describes “Apps” as the future and the innovation department at the NHS is working on this…
The Young People’s panel
This was a very interesting part of the day. Two group of teenagers one set from Young Scot and one from B:EAT spoke about their projects.
Young Scot – their campaign was young people led looking at the relationship between Young People and alcohol in Scotland.
I cannot say how impressive the Young People who presented were, and I can’t really do it justice is an already long blog. So instead of reading my description visit the Young Scot website and look at their recommendations on Alcohol.
We then had two young women from B:EAT talk about their experiences of dealing with the media as B:EAT ambassadors.
Again, both girls spoke candidly and impressively on their experiences. They had 5 clips of suffers of eating disorders on Youtube, getting 59,000 hits.
They told their stories in a safe way and B:EAT supported tem every step of the way. They believe that there is no-one better to tell a story than a person going through the experience. They were media trained by B:EAT and guided by them.
The girls also mentioned that they believed it could aid in recovery. It was a very honest and open account. It is a fine balance, especially as the girls did not want to give other people who suffer with eating disorders ideas on how they should look and also what they did to lose weight.
Both mention that anorexia is a competitive condition where girls want to be thinner than others. This knowledge meant certain photos were not given to the press – sometimes losing the story but upholding their values.
I have been thinking about writing this post for awhile and finally I have some time that I can sit down and write consistently I thought I would.
The key point of the blog that I am going to discuss is “Can you gain experience quicker working in the online industry than another?”
I do think that in the online space you can gain experience a lot quicker than in an offline environment. It reminds me of online poker v bricks and mortar poker players. (Bare with me here..).
Online poker players can play thousands of hands an hour if they play online as they use online software that means they get dealt cards every single second. Offline poker players who had played for years could not even think about playing that amount of cards in a week let alone a few hours. The online poker players therefore gained the experience of a 20 year career inside 6-12 months. It changed the game.
I think there are similarities from online working and the online poker players. Using twitter, reading blogs, getting involved in communities has meant that you can gain and learn a fantastic amount in a real short period of time. I do work on an online role and my job interests and personal interests are similar, maybe I am lucky in that situation.
I know some of you will now think: “Yes, but it isn’t a deep knowledge and understanding of the topics.” I can understand this point of view, and I think it might be true in terms of some topics. I couldn’t for example, learn the ins and outs of financial management in one sitting, but I can learn how audiences use communities, or what a community manager’s every day life is like. I can even learn how 116 of the biggest companies in the world manage their social media. I could never have done that 5 years ago, I couldn’t have done that 18 months ago.
With the increasing amount of data that is being opened up we are going to have even more information than ever. At the NMA Young People and Social Media conference I went to a few months ago a speaker from an online data firm said we will collect more data this year than in our entire history. That is in itself amazing.
Sure, this might be information overload I think for some-one of my generation it means that we can gain a hell of a lot of experience in shorter amounts of time. That has to be exciting. What other space other than the online space could you learn so much, so quickly?
From a career point of view this excites me greatly. It surely makes me more employable? The old adage that you can't get a job without experience, but can't get experience without a job might become a thing of the past...then again, maybe not.
Then again, maybe I am typical of the “now society” where I want to learn and consume as much as physically possible without learning anything. There is maybe some truth in that, I find it really hard to read books these days, though I have been able to quite easily on a break that I have just been on with no computer or mobile phone to distract me.
I for one am really excited that I can get as much experience and knowledge as I can in a short amount of times. What do you think? Am I a 100% wrong and missing the point?
I am social media and communities Exec at the British Heart Foundation. These are my views and only mine. I like web, sports, tech, web, new media and anything innovative.
Young People’s Health in the Media
