Micky Hingorani
Forum Replies Created
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I read this interesting article on social media….
Sharing://theconversation.com/social-media
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mostly in kenya we use the sms platform or calls to reach the community stakeholders as most of the rural settings whatsapp, email and other online media and internet connectivity is still not a common feature especially among the elderly in the society. But i think it would be an interesting aspect to use a whatsapp platform to pass on urgent messages as its fast, effective and enables you to reach a large number of people within a short time. However it would have to be regulated to ensure confidentiality of information and stakeholders is upheld.
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It is well known that social media and online communication has its strengths and weaknesses when we are using them to communicate especially issues concerning research trials.
In my site (Mwanza City, Tanzania) we also use social media for communication in issues related to research trials, we have a whatsapp group for community engagement coordinators who are working with TB Alliance in the country; but you can find that sometimes some group members delay in responding or posting in the group which makes sometimes things to be difficult especially when one is asking for help.
When it comes to the issue of communicating to community members, that is when we see the difficult is more worse, because most of community members (even some CAB members) have no either internet gadgets like smart phones, tablets or computers OR they might have the gadgets but they sometimes have NO access to the internet itself. So, when you post an issue it sometimes take some days if not a week before one has to access it and read due to lack of internet bundle in their gadgets.
But also for the case of e-mails, most of the community members in my site have NO email address, it is only those few who have gone for university or college education who have got e-mail address, and this make us not to depend too much to communicate through e-mails to most of the community members, e-mail communication is done to a few people who are in direct contact or link to the trials.
But also we have a google group for those who are working with TB Vaccine Trials in Africa (AERAS), in this group also one can find the same problem of delaying or NOT posting at all about “what is going on” in TB Vaccine sites. It is a group which was intended to exchange information and experiences from different sites but it seems that it is not fulfilling its objective. Every time one can see the same people who always post in the group.
The social media are helpful when one to one communication is done, this always happen because one is responsible to respond to what has been asked, so there is no delaying hoping that someone else/ another person in a group will respond immediately.
Therefore, from those shortcomings we see that social media sometimes DELAYs the communication as a result it makes also delay in planning and engagement strategies especially when one needs some help from other members of a group. Otherwise, social media has simplified the communication with different people who are in the same network with the same OBJECTIVE
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The communication plan for our HPTN 083 implementation is not ready yet, but I would advocate for online tools to be defined there as its main resource, as it is fast, cheap, easy to update and, most important, centralized. For instance, an official website for the trial will deliver consistent and updated information across all visitors, which is great to avoid inaccuracies and hearsays.
On the other hand, false information can spread very quickly in social media, so no communication/issue management plan for a successful trial can afford to overlook that anymore. -
My take to this question is that social media and online communication is very effective quick to reach the source and actually it is cheap.For us we normally communicate through whatsapp and viber because when you compare them with Facebook you will realize that using Facebook you sometimes alter confidentiality.There can be some sensitive information that you want to keep confidential only to the stakeholders concerned.For example there might have been a severe adverse event in a given trial, this has to be handled carefully because this can be a sensitive issue it may not be shared on social media.
What we have to put in mind is that whatever kind of communication we try to use here it should have been communicated to Ethics Committee and permitted. -
Social media and online communication have its place. I agree with Lucy, “Social media and online communication has made communication with stakeholders very cheap, easy, but yet, effective.” Stakeholders can be reached easily and quickly and some decisions are reached faster than some traditional ways. Yet while I agree that social media provides a great way to communicate it has taken away from the inter-personal relations that can exist in sensitive areas. In small societies where persons are known to each other, social media can be used merely for setting up meetings but not necessarily sharing sensitive information, thereby not leaving room for privacy.
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I disagree that a project should only go forward if all local stakeholders want the intervention in their area. To assume that you will get buy-in from all stakeholders is extremely euphoric. According to Jessica work should only be conducted if all stakeholders buy-in. This is impossible. What about the majority and the greater good. Stanford puts it nicely, weigh in on the stakeholders and conduct a deeper analysis to see what the concerns or perceptions are. Peiro adds value with Quadrant 1 of the GPP Blueprint – priority. I must respect the sharing of Shagihilu as this is a real example of working with stakeholders. So I will substitute the word “all” with “most” and include other factors such as relevance to meeting a need etc.
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Social media and online communication has made communication with stakeholders very cheap, easy, but yet, effective. We are able to communicate with stakeholders through Whatsapp and Google group chats. Stakeholders can contribute to trial research through online meetings from the comfort of their present, they are assured of their privacy and the financial burden of physical meetings are been reduced.
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In our department specifically with mainly use whatsapp at the moment. We have a group so that everyone is reached at the same time and we know our whereabouts because we are a big group, we operate from different offices and are now doing fieldwork most of the time at different research sites, so we need to know where is who and if everyone is still safe. We can also speak privately when the need arises. We do that as well with our community stakeholders especially at implementation level, rather than having regular engagements with stakeholders as a group at this stage we tend to target individuals depending on matters at hand. We do that with relevant primary healthcare facility staff, NGO management team members, the intervention section of our study team, our families in research sites because we are also now busy with ethnographic work – mainly qualitative research with families at their homes. So whatsapp is quicker in terms of response, privacy and affordability. With some families we use email to set and confirm appointments because sometimes they do not have a cellphone but they can still access their emails free of charge from the public library on a regular basis.
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Posting updates on Facebook makes the word spread faster and gets quicker responses. Communicating with stakeholders has become a lot cheaper and also more regular. Its has also become a lot easier to get honest and frank ideas from stakeholders especially through Facebook where stakeholders are free to share their thoughts and ideas. In our organisation there is someone responsible for posting and responding to issues emerging on Facebook so part of our work now includes looking out for issues which needs to be addressed emerging from the Facebook page.
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social media has always been one of the effective communication Chanel for us in terms of communicating with our stakeholders. so literally social media has a positive impact because it helps us to reach to our stakeholders population within a short period of time. This days technology is advanced and people visit their social media pages almost everyday. in our study we have a Facebook page where we communicate with our stakeholders about the trials. for example currently we planning world aids day and after posting it on Facebook we have already got a confirmations about who will be able to attend.
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Hi Zenovia, thanks for asking! Yes, there are lots of factors that weights when defining stakeholder priority. In the GPP Blueprint (which is not a part of the GPP book itself, but can be downloaded in the Resources tab in Lesson 4/5), there is a graphic in page 26 that shows how to better prioritize stakeholders, considering their influence and interest in the research. Check it out. My considerations are based on that graphic.
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I agree that using social media for example, Facebook posts to highlight trends and issues can be useful. It is a great forum for Information sharing and clarification. However, there is also the theory of the “mask” that a few of us use social media such as Facebook to gather information, and to test out how others feel about issues but we never really post honestly, we tend to go with the majority or the crowd sometimes! Just another thought.
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Very interesting stuff Refilwe. I like the different ways you are using. I also find Facebook works well when you have a group you can also create surveys to see online community response to a range of health related issues. You also get to meet people from all over the world. It is awesome and effective. You also need to forever be checking or blocking people or setting restrictions for those who want to push their own agenda like posting pornographic material if that is not your line of work or what your business is all about. You also need to from time to time reiterate your position as an organisation or what the group is all about such things. But yes social media and online communication makes things easier.