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An Analysis And Critique Of Advocacy Efforts

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An analysis and critique of advocacy efforts

Facebook is Australia’s most popular social media platform, second is YouTube, with Twitter coming in at seventh. (17) Neiger at al (18) state that social media can be used in public health to achieve the following: communicate with consumers, promote a brand, spread information, expand reach of public health efforts to broader and more diverse groups and foster public engagement and partnerships. Social media is being employed to accomplish a mix of these stated uses. However, some methods have been more successfully achieved than others.

The #rethinksugarydrink campaign has been heavily focused on disseminating information regarding SSB’s and their negative health effects. Using a hashtag has been a simple and effective tool in linking advocacy efforts together and creating a brand-like image for the public to identify. The use of a hashtag is something online users are familiar with and therefore, this fosters engagement and participation. (8, 18) Users have engaged in different levels; low engagement is common with users liking, retweeting or sharing content using #rethinksugarydrink. Additionally, medium engagement has occurred with people have creating and sharing there own content, as seen with Parents’ Voice. (18) The level of engagement, exposure and reach of these efforts can be seen through YouTube videos posted by Cancer Council Victoria for the campaign, with one “man drinking fat” gaining 251, 105 views and 223

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