Family Planning Goes Social: Using Social Media to Create, Connect, and Come Together

John Snow, Inc. (JSI) has developed a toolkit to help people working in the field of family planning better understand the major social media tools and networks available and how they can be used strategically to advance programme goals and increase visibility/awareness among audiences.

According to JSI: "Increasingly, online communication via social media is reshaping the way we deliver health information as well as the expectations of how information is received. Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide use online social networks, most of which is driven by mobile access. Many of them are going online to research health questions or find support from a community."
 
The toolkit was adapted from the 2011 tool HIV Prevention Goes Social, developed for the National AIDS Minority Council (NMAC - United States) by JSI, for use at the 2013 International Conference on Family Planning, at which JSI hosted a panel presentation entitled "Innovations and Applications of Social Media for Family Planning" and facilitated a social media workshop.

The table of contents includes:
Why a Social Media Toolkit?
Strategy First

• Activity 1: Questions to Consider When Setting a Social Media Goal
• Activity 2: Creating a Social Strategy

Organizational Considerations

• Activity 3: Determining Your Organizational Considerations
• Activity 4: Questions to Consider In Managing Your Time

Measuring Success

• Activity 5: Questions to Consider In Measuring Success

So Much Information... Where do I Begin?

• Repurposing Content

Getting to Know the Tools

• Blogs (Wordpress, Blogger, Posterous)
• File sharing services (SlideShare)
• Geolocation (Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places)
• Microblogs (Twitter)
• Mobile (Texting, Mobile Web, and Apps)
• Photo Sharing (Flickr, Picasa)
• Social Networking Sites (Facebook, MySpace, Google+)
• Video Sharing (YouTube, Vimeo, UStream)
• Widgets
• Wikis

Appendix 1: Sample Social Media Metrics Spreadsheet
Appendix 2: Sample Tool for Organizing Social Streams - HootSuite
Appendix 3: Twitter Lingo
Appendix 4: Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups