Thread by @suezeecue

1. I looked at @themohgovjm's social media accounts to see how much they've been used to give information about the flu & flu alert. My comments are obviously not a review of the entirety of the Ministry's efforts; I'm not commenting on radio/TV/print/town halls/etc. #FluJASM

2. I focussed on the number of posts which mentioned flu, but made no assessment of the type of post, eg informational post originating from @themohgovjm, reposting of news report, reply to comment/query from another account, etc. #FluJASM

3. After posting the numbers, I'll make a few comments. And if you do your own count & find I am off by one or two, si wid mi! Counting tweets made me cross-eyed! #FluJASM

4. The Twitter account of @themohgovjm has 4853 followers. From March 1 - 30, 2019, there were 76 tweets in all. 4 of those tweets had to do with flu.
March 1: 2 tweets
March 29: 2 tweets
All 4 used the hashtag #FluAlert
#FluJASM

5. From Feb 1 - 28, 2019, there were 156 tweets in all on the @themohgovjm Twitter account. 23 of those had to do with flu.
Feb 20 (2), Feb 19 (3), Feb 18 (3), Feb 14 (7), Feb 13 (3), Feb 12 (5)
The hashtag #FluAlert was used on some but not on others.
#FluJASM

6. From Jan 1 - 31, 2019, there were 104 tweets in all on the @themohgovjm Twitter account. None of those had to do with flu.
#FluJASM

7. The Ministry of Health, Jamaica Facebook page had 21 posts in all from March 1 - 30, 2019. Only the post March 29 had to do with flu. It used the hashtag #FluAlert.
#FluJASM

8. The Ministry of Health, Jamaica Facebook page had 33 posts in all from February 1 - 28, 2019. 10 of those had to do with flu.
Feb 21 (1), Feb 20 (1), Feb 18 (2), Feb 14 (4), Feb 13 (1), Feb 12 (1).
Some used the hashtag #FluAlert; others didn't.
#FluJASM

9. The Ministry of Health, Jamaica Facebook page had 25 posts in all from January 1 - 31, 2019. None of them had to do with flu.
#FluJASM

10. The Ministry of Health's Instagram page (@themohgovjm) had 1998 followers at the time I counted today. There were 15 posts in all from March 1 - 30, 2019. 7 of those had to do with flu.
March 30 (1), March 29 (1), March 1 (5).
All of them used the hashtag #FluAlert.
#FluJASM

11. The @themohgovjm Instagram account had 17 posts in all during Feb 1 - 28, 2019. 9 of those had to do with flu.
Feb 27 (1), Feb 25 (1), Feb 20 (2), Feb 18 (1), Feb 14 (2), Feb 13 (1), Feb 12 (1).
All used the hashtag #FluAlert.
#FluJASM

12. The @themohgovjm Instagram account had 52 posts in January 1 - 31, 2019. None of those had to do with flu.
#FluJASM

13. Ministry of Health posts on Social Media Jan 1 - March 30, 2019
Twitter: 336 (27 flu)
Facebook: 79 (11 flu)
Instagram: 84 (16)
Of the total 499 posts across the three platforms, 54 had to do with flu. There were no posts about flu in January.
#FluJASM

14. Some thoughts. I think @themohgovjm needs to review the way in which it uses its social media accounts to share public health info. I think it is an underused resource.
#FluJASM

15. I know current number of followers across all 3 @themohgovjm platforms is relatively low, particularly when compared to numbers & reach of traditional media, particularly radio. (And also when compared to the number of followers Minister of Health @christufton has.) #FluJASM

16. The @themohgovjm should aim to increase number of followers on its social media platforms; I don't know what the in-house social media expertise is, but if it doesn't already exist or isn't adequate it should be increased. And I assume it exists within government. #FluJASM

17. I'm also interested in what role social media plays in @themohgovjm communication policy...exactly what the aim is for the 3 accounts. (I just want to say my focus was flu 4 this review & other important issues were definitely being covered, some w/greater coverage.) #FluJASM

18. The flu posts tended to be somewhat reactive, with clusters of posts tending to occur when something happened, like (obviously) the announcement of the #FluAlert on February 12, 2019. But perhaps that is somewhat the nature of social media. #FluJASM

19. I was a bit surprised, however, that there were no posts abt flu in January on any of @themohgovjm's social media accounts. I know focus during that month was dengue outbreak, but a few posts reminding of precautions & availability of flu vaccine might've been useful #FluJASM

20. I want now to say a bit about Minister of Health @christufton's social media account. While I acknowledge the influence that Ministers' individual accounts can have, I view them somewhat differently to the Ministries' accounts. #FluJASM

21. For one thing, a Minister can be Minister today & gone tomorrow...either not a minister at all or minister with some other portfolio. He/she can then use the account for some other focus or delete the account completely. If it is a personal, not an official account. #FluJASM

22. And that personal vs official social media account for individuals with official positions is a discussion for another day. But a Ministry's account is supposed to stay put and continue, whoever is Minister. (I wonder what written policies exist around these issues.) #FluJASM

23. So Minister @christufton's Twitter account has a formidable following of 14.4 thousand. (It would be interesting one day to do a comparison of social media use by Ministers & Ministries.) He is a savvy & prolific tweeter & his profile says he manages his account. #FluJASM

24. In the period March 1 - 30, 2019, @christufton tweeted 240 times, including original tweets, RTs & replies. Of those, 42 had to do with flu.
March 30 (9), March 29 (30) - day issue of #H1N1 came to fore, March 13 (1), March 1 (2).
Most did not use #FluAlert hashtag.
#FluJASM

25. In the period Feb 1 - 28, 2019, @christufton tweeted 349 times. 25 of those had to do with flu. The 1st tweet re flu was Feb 12, the day he announced #FluAlert in Parliament; the others were fairly evenly spread over rest of month. Some used hashtag; others didn't. #FluJASM

26. In the period January 1 - 31, 2019, @christufton tweeted 166 times. None of those tweets was about flu. #FluJASM

27. Minister Tufton's Facebook account is far less active. From March 1 - 30, 2019, there were 27 posts. None about flu. From February 1 - 28, there were 35 posts, 2 about flu. From January 1 - 31, there were 4 posts. None about flu.
#FluJASM

28. Minister Tufton's Instagram account has even more followers than his Twitter account - 23.5 thousand. From March 1 - 30, there were 18 posts, 3 about flu. From Feb 1 - 28, there were 19 posts, one about flu. From Jan 1 - 31, there were 17 posts; none about flu. #FluJASM

29. Minister Tufton's posts on Social Media Jan 1 - March 30, 2019
Twitter: 755 (67 flu, 39 of those on March 29-30)
Facebook: 66 (2 flu)
Instagram: 54 (4 flu)
Of total 875 posts across the 3 platforms, 73 had to do with flu. There were no posts about flu in January.
#FluJASM

30. So Minister @christufton's pattern of posts about flu show some similarities to that of @themohgovjm, one of the most marked being the absence of posts on social media prior to the announcement of the #FluAlert on February 12. #FluJASM

31. This absence of social media posts about flu prior to the #FluAlert announcement on February 12 is certainly something that the @themohgovjm should take a look at and consider for its future use of its social media accounts as a way of sharing public health. #FluJASM

32. So I will pause this thread here for today. I may come back to it in the future. #FluJASM