iDelivery and Media Moms-to-Be: The Role of Social Media in Childbirth

1. iDelivery and Media Moms-to-Be:The Role of Social Media in Childbirth Presented by Julia Kish-Doto, PhD, MS RTI International, Rockville, MDPresented at9th Annual Regional Perinatal Forum ConferenceTarrytown, NY • November 3, 2010 Phone 301-468-8280 • Fax 301-230-4647 • e-mail jkdoto@rti.org

2. Objectives • Identify social media sources women use for health information • Describe the role of social media and marketing in women’s health decision making • Provide examples of how to use social marketing to communicate with and educate patients

3. Social Media and Network Examples • Blogspot • Flickr • Twitter • Facebook • YouTube • Wikipedia • Foursquare

4. Women’s Use of Social Media—Overall The Oxygen Media Insights Group studied 1,600 women aged 18 to 34 (RBR, 2010): • 34% say checking Facebookis the first thing they do in the morning • 57% admit to talking to people online more than face to face • 48% find out about news through Facebook more often than from traditional news outlets • 73% say Facebook is “me time”

5. Moms in Particular • Control large segment of social market • “Power moms”– women between the ages of 25 and 54 who have at least one child under the age of 18 in the home – represent 19% of the total online population(Nielsen Online, 2009) • Can be segmented by their “social” habits

6. Profile of Social Moms (i.e., moms using social media) • Measured by “influence” • How often social moms post or comment on social networks • BabyCenter.com 2010 report • 18% of moms who use social media account for 78% of the influence

7. Use of Social Media during Labor Growing incidence of the following activities during labor: • Tweeting • Texting • Talking on a cell phone • Recording and posting in real time via webcams

8. Why? • To feel less alone • As a distraction • Because they can!

9. Possible Implications • Benefits • Expose future moms to positive birth experience • Increase knowledge of childbirth process • Drawbacks • Provider concerns about litigation • Instilling fear in moms-to-be • Questions about baby’s privacy rights • Boundaries of social etiquette

10. You Said It • “Facebook friends: My doctor is sewing up my episiotomy now. Thank God I can’t feel a thing!” • “OMG! I can’t handle another contraction! Where’s my epidural?! Somebody get me some DRUGS!”(sent via iPhone) • From Glynn, pregnancy360.com, 2010

11. The Problem • Data on the impact of women’s preferences on delivery mode and their decision-making processes for delivery are limited • A woman’s planned delivery preferences may not be the most predominant factor in the actual delivery

12. Influencing Factors Other external factors beyond a woman’s physical state: • Health care providers • Insurance companies • Hospital protocols • Childbirth educators • Family, friends • Media

13. Behavior Change Commercial marketers spend significant amounts of money examining the behaviors of their audience... …and getting people to change them.

14. Related Example Umbilical cord banking • Original idea in 1988 from not-for-profit • Today, companies have generated a “need” for the service (Prue & Daniel, 2006)

15. There’s an App for That!

16. Moms-to-Be Information Seeking • Moms often turn to the Internet for health information before any other media source • Motherhood is the number one trigger for social media use

17. The Good News • Despite openness to social networking for health information, people typically connect with known acquaintances(Uhrig, Bann, Williams, & Evans, 2010)

18. The Challenge • Difficult for health care to compete • Motivational interviewing • Defined as changing what patients want to change • What if they don’t want to change? • Is the communicating audience/society better off?

19. Potential Solutions • Piggyback on existing market research • Use the same media channels • Initiate discussions • Upstream versus downstream approach • Work with insurance companies, policy makers, hospitals

20. Exposure and Awareness • Women are not typically exposed to normal, uncomplicated vaginal births • Media, provider’s offices, family, friends • Women may be unaware of childbirth education philosophies and practices supporting low-intervention vaginal births

21. Is It Tweet-Worthy? • Women rely heavily on social networks for health information, including childbirth knowledge (CDC, 2009) • Societal fascination with birth • Unexpected • Unplanned • Complicated deliveries

22. Current Social Marketing Programs • Text4Baby • www.childcount.org • Preconception health programs • READY-Girl

23. Patient-Provider Communication • How can providers use this information to reduce unnecessary or elective Cesarean sections?

24. Market to Your Audience Questions to consider: • What is your office protocol to discuss preconception care with patients? • How is information delivered to/received from pregnant patients? • What questions are included in your electronic health records (EHR) system?

25. Recommendations • “Bundle” your messages • In discussions • On your office Web site • Foster a social network of communication about childbirth • Provide a list of links and sites to local childbirth resources

26. Recommendations (cont’d) • Ask questions about childbirth preference early and often • Dispel myths surrounding the process of childbirth • Educate women about the types, availability, and effectiveness of nonpharmacological coping techniques

27. References The BabyCenter® 2010 Mom Social Influencer Report reveals five unique segments of social moms [News Release]. http://www.babycenter.com/100_-the-babycenter-174-2010-mom-social-influencer-report-reveal_10332899.bc Accessed October 25, 2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Marketing and Communication Strategy Branch. Audience Insights: Communicating to moms (with kids at home). http://www.cdc.gov/healthmarketing/pdf/AudienceInsight_moms.pdf Accessed October 25, 2010. Glynn, A. The TMI of childbirth: From Tweeting intimate details of labor to posting full-frontal footage of baby’s birth—is nothing too sacred for social networking? http://www.pregnancy360.com/the-big-day/tmi-childbirth Accessed October 25, 2010. The Nielsen Company. Nielson Online. Where the moms are: shopping, blogging, networking and strategizing online. [2009 News Release]. http://enus.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsen/en_us/documents/pdf/Press%20Releases/2009/May/Where%20The%20Moms%20Are%20Shoppi g,%20Blogging,%20Networking%20And%20Strategizing%20Online.pdf Accessed October 25, 2010. Prue CE, Daniel KL. Social marketing: planning before conceiving preconception care. Matern Child Health J. 2006;10(Suppl 1):79–84. http://www.springerlink.com/content/a3j554763469n035/ Accessed October 25, 2010. Radio and Television Business (RBR) Report. The social media habits of women 18–34 [News Release]. http://www.rbr.com/medianews/research/25649.html Accessed October 25, 2010BabyCenter.com. Uhrig J, Bann C, Williams P, Evans WD. Social networking websites as a platform for disseminating social marketing interventions: an exploratory pilot study. Soc Mar Q. 2010;16(1):2–20. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a919454461~frm=titlelink Accessed October 25, 2010.

28. For more information contact Julia Kish-Doto jkdoto@rti.org