Some Learning Objectives

1. Testing New ApproachesDelivering CIS through Social Media ChannelsMartin Ledwick Cancer Research - UK

2. Some Learning Objectives • Become familiar with the ICISG social media guidelines • Develop an understanding of the uses for different new media channels • Become aware of some of the pitfalls and advantages of different channels

3. New approaches, what do we mean? • Traditionally CIS have been delivered through phone, face to face, by letter and email • People are using social media more and more to seek and find information • Social media channels pose particular challenges and opportunities to get information to people

4. New approaches, what do we mean? • Forums • Blogs • Chat rooms • Social Networking

5. Social media Guidelines on the ICISG website http://www.icisg.org/resources/socialmediaindex.html

6. Social media Guidelines on the ICISG website Do we need a website, can’t we just use Facebook Can’t we answer people’s questions though twitter We need to change with the times, who still uses the phone? Surely running a forum is no different to answering email enquiries

7. Planning social media some questions to ask yourself • Are there any legal issues, are you liable? • Are there any privacy issues to consider? • What are the workload considerations? • How much work might this channel generate over time? • How does it fit in/ link with other services we offer? • How do I coordinate using social media across the organisation? • What do I want to achieve and which is the right medium to use? • Which channels are right for my audience? • Which channels are right for my organisation? • Have I got an exit strategy if something unexpected goes wrong?

8. Forums • How visible will posts be, registered users only or to everyone • To moderate or not to moderate • Terms and conditions • What to do if users post bad/harmful/marketing information • What about users “sailing close to the wind” to push their own agenda • Information, support or both • How do you keep the community vibrant • http://cancerchat.cancerresearchuk.org/index.jspa

9. Blogs • Have to be interesting, newsworthy and chatty • Use to highlight news and stimulate discussion • Myth-busting • Can you sustain regular blogging? • Can you use it to respond to detailed questions? • Have you a policy for whether or how to respond to comments posted? • http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/science-blog

10. Twitter • How much can you realistically say in 140 characters? • You can link through to other stuff • Great for giving a running commentary or reporting on events • Great for promoting other activity • But you must be genuine, the twitterati don’t like tweets that are not real time, topical, interesting…and they can smell a fake tweet really easily • http://twitter.com/CR_UK

11. Facebook and other social networking sites • Promoting your organization and its services • Engaging with the social network community • Peer to Peer Support • Can you use it for detailed answers to questions? • What are the privacy issues? • What are you going to do if lots of people ask you questions through your facebook page? • What are you going to do if people criticize your organization through your facebook page? • http://www.facebook.com/cancerresearchuk

12. Visiting other online spaces rather than starting your own • Yahoo answers • Be a visiting expert on other forums • Become a Wikipedian

13. Issues common to all channels • Have a coordinated approach and ensure lots of different parts of your organization don’t do their own thing without coordinating what everyone else is doing • Being prepared to keep channels engaging with plenty of coordinated “genuine” activity on them • Being prepared and adequately resourced to respond (or not respond) to questions posted through each channel • How will you respond to messages posted that are critical of your organization