Social Media: A Path to Health Literacy

Social media - websites and other online tools called social networks - serve as a tool to connect people and organizations around topics of common interest. Social media platforms offer tremendous opportunity to engage quickly and sometimes in depth with many and diverse stakeholders as people have the ability to communicate back-and-forth from anywhere in the world. As increasing numbers of people receive their news and health information online, it is important to ensure content delivered through online resources is accessible to diverse target audiences. This chapter discusses a mid-sized health literacy nonprofit organizations' social media philosophy and tactics during the past 10 years, as both social media and health literacy strategies evolved continuously. The integration of social media in health literacy program content depends on the use with best evidence health literacy strategies, such as the use of plain language techniques. Strategy and technical considerations for the implementation and integration of social media within a health literate health communications model are discussed.