Good afternoon. Today I am blogging to discuss the two types of social media I would use to communicate my policy issue of early childhood health services; specifically, vaccinations. One form of social media I would use is a webpage. I would use this form because it would reach a wide audience. Both a young audience and an older audience would find it from Googling vaccinations. Webpages are easy to create, they can be free, and are easy to update and easy to link to. In addition, on a webpage I can have other forms of social media that my users and browsers can subscribe to and or follow. I can have a Face Book link, a Twitter link, an Instagram link, a Vine link, and a You Tube link all on my webpage. Once a user navigates to my webpage, if they prefer to use one of these other types of media, they can link to them there and vice versa; I can link my webpage on the other media types as well.

A second form of social media I would use is a mobile phone app. I would use this form because it too would reach a wide audience. Both young and older users are using apps. I would have a link to my mobile phone app on my webpage and on the other media types as well as a standalone media type available for free.

One benefit of using a webpage is that they are easy to create and maintain and I can provide a vast amount of information in a small space. In addition, webpages are good for a wide audience. One challenge in using a webpage is the number of webpages on the internet and overload viewers may have as well as the time spent by viewers on a webpage. My webpage will need to get their attention quickly to keep them viewing all of the information available.

One benefit of using a mobile app is that they can give a lot of information in one application. It could be basically the webpage condensed. One challenge of using a mobile app is the size and potential cost. I would prefer to offer it for free but at some point, I may have to charge to pay for development, upkeep, hosting, etc.

Overall, I think using social media is important in impacting policy and would be good to use to discuss my policy issue, vaccinations. Social media has strong connectivity between users. In an article by June, Hong, and Sung-Min, they state, “with social media it is easier than ever to share breaking news, broach a social issue, and exchange opinions in real time to a massive audience. In fact, on average any two random Twitter users have only four degrees of separation between them.” (June, 2011).

Thank you, Cissy

June, P., Hong, C., & Sung-Min, P. (2011). Social media's impact on policy making. SERI Quarterly, 4(4), 125–129. Retrieved April 1, 2015 from the Walden Library databases.