• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Digital culture, Physicians, Social/Public Media

Why the Measles Truth Twitter Storm Worked

February 7, 2015 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: < 1 minutes

3796080398_f5d6e4471f_o

Yesterday the American Academy of Pediatrics hosted a novel twitter event around measles information.  Packaged as a ‘Twitter storm’ and tagged as #MeaslesTruth, it was a 10 minute measles power session designed to push a little vaccine truth into the infosphere.

Here’s why the #MeaslesTruth Twitter storm worked:

  1. It was a constrained affair.  As a short-form flash mob, it was clean, contained and to the point.  A twitter storm of this type appeals to our brief attention spans.
  2. There was no conversation.  This wasn’t a Q&A.  There were no silly platitudes.  It was anything but a cocktail party.  There was, however, heavy hitting, in-your-face volume.  It was a blitzkrieg.  A pro-vaccine bumrush.
  3. There were no individuals.  Our engagement was collective and centered around a simple idea. Everyone at #MeaslesTruth was present for group effect and it wasn’t about any one tweet.  No one participant had the opportunity to bask in the glow of their carefully chosen words.  It was social media intentionally designed without the me.

Congrats to my committed colleagues Rhea Boyd and Wendy Swanson for innovating a novel way to mass move ideas and information in a social space.  Hats off to all who pitched in.  And thanks to the American Academy of Pediatrics for helping us make Twitter stop and think for just a brief time.

You can check out the Symplur stats here | Image via Flickr

Related Articles

  • Why Your Twitter Disclaimer Doesn't Make Sense
  • Digital Smarts Twitter Summary
  • Why I Don't Like Scoopit Links on Twitter

Tagged With: Twitter, Vaccines

Related Articles

  • Why Your Twitter Disclaimer Doesn't Make Sense
  • Digital Smarts Twitter Summary
  • Why I Don't Like Scoopit Links on Twitter

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Health Care and the Visibility-Value Continuum

Will the Future Need Doctors?

Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission

Doctors and social media: Damned if you engage, damned if you don’t

100,000 Connected Lemmings

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy