New to social media and not sure where to start? Below we cover the basics of using social media during a disaster and provide links to helpful resources.

Twitter

• Each message has a 140 character limit
• Hashtags (#) help people search for information more easily on Twitter. Use them and be sure to coordinate with your partner agencies to ensure that you using the same ones. This will make it easier for your audience to get the information they need.
• Use the following sites to help you shorten the links you want to include:
  • https://bitly.com/
  • http://go.usa.gov/ (for government resources)
• RT (short for ReTweet) is how you share someone else’s message to your audience.
• Want to mention a partner agency in a tweet? Use the @ symbol before their Twitter handle (i.e., @CPHRC_Drexel)

Facebook

• While you are not limited to 250 characters, using 250 or less will ensure that your entire message shows up on your newsfeed.
• Best practice: Provide an image and a link to additional information with your posts. If the webpage you link to has an image, that image will show up in your post.

Instagram

• Instagram is primarily used to share images, not text. However, you may add a caption to an image (up to 2200 characters).
• Hashtags (#) help people search for information more easily on Instagram. Use them in your captions and be sure to coordinate with partner agencies to ensure that you are using the same ones. This will make it easier for your audience to get the information they need.

Guides to Using Social Media

• CDC’s “Guide to Writing for Social Media” [PDF]
• CDC’s “The Health Communicator’s Social Media Toolkit” [PDF]
• UPMC Center for Health Security and NACCHO’s “Riding the Mobile Wave: What Local Health Departments Need in order to Adopt Social Media and Mobile Health Technologies for Emergency Preparedness” [PDF]
• "Verification Handbook: A Definitive Guide to Verifying Digital Content for Emergency Coverage"