Tips and Tools for Communication Surveillance During Emergencies

Tips and Tools for Communication Surveillance During Emergencies Kathleen G. Vidoloff, Ph. D Communication Surveillance and Evaluation Team, ERCB/DEO/OPHPR Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) NPHIC Conference Call Atlanta, GA November 10, 2011

Overview 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Communication surveillance overview Communication surveillance process Tools for traditional and social media Challenges Questions

Purpose of Communication Surveillance Early Days…Anthrax 2001 “Because audience research and message pre-testing were not possible in the midst of rapidly evolving events, communication monitoring became an important proxy for audience input as CDC shaped and re-shaped messages to address public questions and concerns. ” Emphasis added. Prue, Lackey, Swenarski, Gantt (2003)

During a Public Health Emergency…. What does it mean? What are they saying? How do we use it to get the message right?

Components of Communication Surveillance n n Major themes Health information gaps Rumors, miscommunication, points of confusion Emerging issues (1 -3 days)

24 Hour Cycle During an Event Search Media Findings => Communication Strategy Input Compile Report Select Relevant Health Stories and Posts Thematic Analysis

Traditional (News) Media n Geography: National outlets u Top 25 media markets u Local (if appropriate) u n Media types: Newspaper (print and internet-based) u Television broadcast u

New/Social Media n n Twitter Blogs CNN i. Reports Future plans to include u You. Tube videos u Facebook u Flickr

Data Capturing Tools Traditional n Metro Monitor (TV broadcast) n Nexis (newspapers) n Yahoo! News (online) Social n n n Topsy Blogpulse Radian 6 (coming September 2011)

Challenge: Collection and Analysis n n n For emergencies, communication surveillance is fundamentally labor intensive The volume of stories, posts, and inquiries will almost always exceed capacity to collect and analyze in a timely way, so decisions about what to keep and what to leave have to be made Flexibility – strategy for collection and analysis changes over the course of the event/response

Questions?