Using New Media to Act Against AIDS
Topics
Every 9½ minutes someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV. That’s the message behind a national campaign that was announced today by officials from the White House is a new five-year national communication campaign that will highlight this alarming statistic and attempt to combat complacency about the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States. The campaign is using both traditional channels (e.g., radio and transit ads) and new media tools (e.g., widgets, Web badges, online videos, Twitter, blogs, social networking sites) to reach a broad audience and to target at-risk populations.
Kevin Fenton, M.D., Director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention explained: “Reducing the disproportionate toll of HIV in Black communities is one of CDC’s top domestic HIV-prevention priorities, and African American leaders have long played an essential role in this fight.” Fenton also said “This new initiative will further harness the collective strength of some of the nation’s leading African American organizations to reach directly into the communities they serve with critical, life-saving information.”To harness that collective strength, this campaign is using new media tools to spread the message. We’ll blog about this campaign in the future, to explore how our colleagues are using new media and to get a sense of how effective those tools are. Help us share this important message! Visit the campaign’s website at www.nineandahalfminutes.orgExit Disclaimer.
How You Can Help
Web Badge—Promote HIV awareness by adding an Act Against AIDS Web badge to your website. Just copy the html code below and paste it into your site.<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nineandahalfminutes/?s_cid=actagainstaids_003" title="Every 9½ minutes someone in the US is infected with HIV. Act Against AIDS."><img src="https://www.cdc.gov/images/campaigns/actagainstaids/9andahalfmins_300x250.jpg" width="300" height="250" border="0" alt="Every 9½ minutes someone in the US is infected with HIV. Act Against AIDS."></a>
Link to the 9½ minute website from your homepage—Suggested text: White House Announces New National HIV/AIDS Communication Campaign: www.nineandahalfminutes.orgExit DisclaimerBlog about the event or campaign, or read Federal blogs about the campaign—Kevin Fenton will be blogging, as will HIV.gov.Twitter—If you are on Twitter, please follow and re-tweet from the CDC Twitter accountExit Disclaimer or from the HIV.gov Twitter accountExit Disclaimer.
- All tweets related to this event should use a standard hashtag for the event (#AAAIDS).
- All tweets will reference other organizations (with @) as appropriate.
- If possible, refer followers to www.nineandahalfminutes.orgExit Disclaimer, 1-800-CDC-INFO, or cdcinfo@cdc.gov for additional information.
- Try to limit tweets to 120 characters, including the #AAAIDS hashtag, to promote re-tweeting.
Link to PSAs and podcasts—PSAs and podcasts of the event will be available on both the HHS and CDC Youtube channelsExit Disclaimer, but you can go to www.nineandahalfminutes.orgExit Disclaimer to link or view.