HIV Prevention Goes Social

With over half of all of Americans over the age of 12 using online social networks, there is no doubt that social media plays an ever increasing role in how the National Minority AIDS Council (NMACExit Disclaimer) reaches our constituents. And, for that matter, how our constituents use social media to promote high impact HIV prevention services.

In 2011, NMAC’s Division of Community Advancement and Leadership Strategies (D-CALS) noticed an increasing trend in the use of social media by our constituents. In response to this, we developed the first part of our HIV Goes Social series: HIV Prevention Goes Social: Using Social Media to Create, Connect and Come Together (PDF).

The toolkit was our proactive solution to introduce major social media tools, and advocate for a strategic approach when incorporating social media into prevention efforts. Our goal was to help you understand the conversation, to learn who was leading the conversation, and most importantly: to find your voice in what can often be a noisy field.

The response to the toolkit was tremendous. Many of you are already using social media, but found the information regarding strategy and metrics especially beneficial to your programs. Throughout the toolkit, available here, we encouraged you to get to know the basics which paved the way for more in depth questions as we furthered your social media capacity building. With this came the realization that we had more work to do. Thus, the follow-up workbook, HIV Prevention Goes Social Part II: Social Media Strategy, Policy, & Monitoring), please stop by the NMAC booth for a copy of the toolkit and workbook, or stop by the HIV.gov booth for new media technical assistance.

For questions or to request capacity building assistance on the HIV Goes Social series, please email: d-cals@nmac.org.Attending USCA? NMAC’s workshop, “HIV Prevention Goes Social Part II: Social Media Strategy, Policy & Monitoring” will be on Tuesday, October 2, 2:30-4pm in Milano 1 on the Promenade Level.