Engaging the IBD Audience through Twitter
There are so many Twitter accounts available for the IBD community. As I took the time to read through the different accounts, I tried to acknowledge the diverse ways to engage the IBD community. I followed accounts whose goals aim to raise awareness, connect the communinity, and be a part of the fight for a cure.
The first Tweet that really stood out to me was by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation (CCFA) of America’s Twitter account.
“Send Us your #IBDSelfie and #HelpSomeoneYouKnow! RT @ccfa.org
A very important of being an advocate for those with IBD is the ability to connect others in the community.As the disease is isolating, the ability to see that you are not alone (which also happens to be one of CCFA’s campaigns) is very important. Using the #IBDSelfie, CCFA is attempting to unite the community through selfies about their disease. If you scroll through their tweets you are able to great rhetorical velocity through tweets of people who have taken selfies representing what this disease means to them. CCFA’s use of multimedia creates a collection of images from IBD patients. This proves that patients are not alone. The second hashtag, #HelpSomeoneYouKnow is further promotion of CCFA’s new campaign to raise awareness and gain support. This is a touching campaign whose video supports the mission of CCFA in the interest of the IBD community. There have been many retweets and shares of this video. The link engages patients through the powerful quote, “You Could Change the Future of IBD”. This short tweet is powerful. It provides evidence of CCFA’s mission and also works to connect the community.
The second Tweet focus is on research and how patients can play a role in finding a cure for IBD.
“Your DNA could play a critical role in developing #IBD treatments. Join our research efforts: http://23me.co/TzciBM”
The rhetorical velocity in this tweet is an attempt to have patients become proactive in their management in IBD and help researchers find a cure. Through some research on Facebook I discovered that this was a topic that was trending and being shared through different IBD outlets. Thus, I believe that it has great rhetorical velocity. The #IBD allows the tweet to be circulated to outlets where patients are searching. The link provided includes further information about 23 and Me and their research initiatives. The Tweet engages patients allowing them to play a role in the research study.
I used the the methods behind these two tweets to carefully construct my five tweets. In that manner, I focused on engaging patients as well as giving them outlets to be advocates.
In my first Tweet, I discussed CCFA’s campaign #HelpSomeoneYouKnow. I provided a link to the video as many people have been sharing the video and I hoped that would be a benefit to the rhetorical velocity. In my second Tweet, I started a conversation discussion IBD friendly recipes for fall. I asked a question in hope to gain rhetorical velocity through answers. This call to action, is just like the tweet where CCFA asked for pictures about their experience with IBD. I used the #youarenotalone as that has been trending with CCFA. My third Tweet is focused on some groundbreaking news on a new drug that was approved on Thursday for pediatric patients. As CCFA provides up to date, pertinent information in their tweets I aimed to do the same. This is a very recent announcement which should be a benefit to my rhetorical velocity. My fourth Tweet is a video from a prominent UPMC IBD physician discussing diagnosis and treatment of IBD. The multimedia content is a great means for sharing and retweeting to increase the rhetorical velocity such as the one used by CCFA. My fifth Tweet is tied to engagement with my audience. As I mentioned the Tweet from 23 and Me earlier, I noted their initiative to find a cure through DNA from IBD patients. I decided to join the movement and order one of their DNA kits. Mentioning 23 and Me, I used a picture of my own DNA kit, to engage others to get involved in their initiative. The rhetorical velocity will stem from others becoming motivated to get their own DNA kit and sharing the message with others through my twe
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I really like the first example you gave. This tweet asking for the IBD selfie encourages the audience to engage with the CCFA account. Perhaps if one reader responds with a picture of themselves, using the IBD selfie hashtag or tweeting ‘at’ CCFA, that user’s follower base would then be exposed to CCFA through the tweet, which brings more people to the CCFA twitter account. It is a great way of promoting participation with twitter users and of gaining recognition and attention.
I also like how you linked one of your tweets to something CCFA discusses on their account, the #HelpSomeoneYouKnow project. By doing so you are doing something that the CCFA did with their request for selfies – connecting to something larger which may help your tweet be viewed by a larger group of readers.