title: Analyzing health organizations' use of Twitter for promoting health literacy.
abstract: This study explored health-related organizations' use of Twitter in delivering health literacy messages. A content analysis of 571 tweets from health-related organizations revealed that the organizations' tweets were often quoted or retweeted by other Twitter users. Nonprofit organizations and community groups had more tweets about health literacy than did other types of health-related organizations examined, including health business corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies. Tweets on health literacy topics focused predominantly on using simple language rather than complicated language. The results suggest that health organizations need a more strategic approach to managing positive organizational self-presentations in order to create an optimal level of exposure on social networking sites.
authors.affiliation: Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. hjpark6@lsu.edu
authors.forename: Hyojung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Shelly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodgers
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stemmle
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057220:Health Literacy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009938:Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States