Situations Involving the Use of Communication Technology Tools Other Than Social Media

Social media has a significant influence on how people communicate due to its ability to disseminate information faster than the traditional mass media communication tools. In healthcare, social media has also been reported to be useful in promoting good health care practices as well as in influencing positive behaviour change through public health campaign. However, it is important to note that there are instances in which communication technology tools other than social media might be more effective in public health campaign.

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First, social media campaign might not be an effective means of public health campaign because of the digital divide in the population. For instance, when the health campaign is targeted towards socially disadvantaged groups who have limited access to social media or none at all due to language, illiteracy, and lack of internet connectivity, social media cannot effectively reach this audience. Consequently, the intended message and the potential health benefits cannot be realized.

Secondly, social media may not be appropriate for public health campaign when there is a potential violation of the patient- health care professional boundary (Ventola, 2014). This is because the interaction between healthcare professionals and their patients on social media may violate the patient- health care professional boundary even if the patient is responsible for initiating the communication. For instance, it has been found that many patients send friend requests to their physicians on Facebook. However, because of patient- health care professional boundary issues, most of the physicians do not accept these requests. Additionally, most of the healthcare organizations have policies that discourage their professionals and the patients from having personal online communication (Ventola, 2014). Because of this, healthcare professionals cannot adequately address patients' needs via social media networks.

The use of social media in healthcare campaign can also be hampered by patient' primary concern, thus making social median unsuitable. According to Antheunis, Tates, and Nieboer (2013), the patients' major barriers to the use of social media are privacy concerns and the belief that information found on social media platforms are unreliable.

The challenge to Using Communication Technology Tools Other than Social Media

Unlike social media, other communication technology tools, such as e-mails have are not widely used. Because of this, the intended message may not reach the intended audience hence the health campaign may prove ineffective. E-mail marketing does not also allow for engagement and has spams (Forneris, 2018; Copley, 2014).

Description of Two Potential Communication Technology Tools

The forms of communication that will be appropriate for disseminating healthcare information to the youth on the need to reduce smoking include social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is a social media platform that has more than 2.2 billion monthly active users. On the other hand, Twitter is social networking platform that allows users to post and interact with messages known as "tweets" (Tella, 2014; O'Brien & Pipkin, 2017). I would like to use Twitter and Facebook as a communication strategy because it offers many advantages over other types of communication tools. One of the vital benefits of social media platforms in health promotion is their ability to provide opportunities for discussion. It also has the capability of reaching a large audience and thus more effective in achieving healthcare change.

References

Antheunis, M. L., Tates, K., & Nieboer, T. E. (2013). Patients' and health professionals' use of social media in healthcare: motives, barriers and expectations. Patient education and counseling, 92(3), 426-431.

Copley, P. (2014). Marketing communications management: analysis, planning, implementation. Sage.

Forneris, J. (2018). The disadvantages of email marketing. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-email-marketing-3472.html

O'Brien, P. S., & Pipkin, F. B. (Eds.). (2017). Introduction to Research Methodology for Specialists and Trainees. Cambridge University Press

Tella, A. (Ed.). (2014). Social media strategies for dynamic library service development. IGI Global.

Ventola, C. L. (2014). Social media and healthcare professionals: benefits, risks, and best practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(7), 491.