How to Get Healthier with Twitter

"Whoever said things have to be useful?" said Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. Evan, I agree that everything does not require utility. However, I hope that it does not bother you that the public health industry has found utility in Twitter.

Twitter, the five year old system for broadcasting cell phone messages 140 characters at time, has value beyond knowing that a 17 year old does not know what to wear to her prom or that a college student is looking for a party this weekend. Twitter has become a valuable tool for healthcare and public health professionals to advise inform and remind individuals and groups about healthcare issues.

If you are new to Twitter, it is important to subscribe to interesting Twitter feeds. Twitter feeds are designated with an @ sign. The internet address for a feed is www.Twitter.com/ [whatever comes after the @sign]. Here in Malden, MA, look for @MaldenObserver or www.twitter.com/maldenobserver for our favorite weekly newspaper and @SenKClark for our state senator, Katherine Clark of Melrose. Both of these feeds report on Malden issues including issues of health and public health. @SenKClark reported on February 7, that 120,000 people in Massachusetts suffer from Alzheimer's disease. @MaldenObserver posts links to many of the paper's lead articles and opinion pieces including this column.

@HallmarkHealth and @HarvardVanguard offer information specific to these Massachusetts health care organizations and about personal health in general. A March 21, tweet from Harvard Vanguard includes a link to a video on the different types of colon cancer screening tests. A March 22, tweet from Hallmark Health refers their followers (Twitter feed subscribers) to upcoming on-line childbirth classes.

National organizations such as the American Cancer Society (@AmericanCancer) and the Scleroderma Foundation (@Scleroderma) offer disease specific information. These are great sources for information for people challenged with particular illnesses and for their caretakers. The Scleroderma Foundation introduces the Angel Bus, a free service to transport the chronically ill long distances, in a tweet on March 23. The American Cancer Society uses their Twitter feed to advertise for research participants. @AmericanCancer posted one such ad on March 10.

The federal government supports research on science, medicine and health through a variety of organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (the CDC) and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda (the NIH). For example, tuberculosis (TB) is a growing concern in Malden and all over the United States. @CDC_ehealth offered a link to podcasts on tuberculosis in a tweet on March 24. A March 21 tweet by @NIHforHealth designated March 24 as World TB Day with a link to an article on their web site.

Of course, dental product companies such as Oral B (@Oralb) and Colgate (@ColgateSmile) have their own Twitter feeds. While corporate feeds create brand loyalty by providing consumers with a communication venue. For example, @ColgateSmile's feed retweets posts from consumers extolling the virtues of various Colgate products. @ColgateSmile utilizes a powerful cross marketing technique by asking followers to post their photos on the company's website.

If you are interested in news on oral health and public health, look for @LeaderDMD. I post information on political and public health issues most of which impact oral health and health care. Other tweets include information on dental treatments. On March 25, tweets included a reminder to floss regularly with a link to instructions on the American Association's website. I retweeted (republished an interesting tweet from another source) from @TuftsSharewood, the Tufts student run free medical clinic in Malden, promoting an interview of their board members on Asian Boston talk radio.

Dentists may post items of interest to themselves, their patients and their communities. Please ask your dentist for their "hash tag" or Twitter account name.