Post by nczaja530 on Oct 1, 2014 22:08:15 GMT -5
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization that strives to build healthier lives that are free from cardiovascular diseases and strokes. Dating as far back as 1915, the organization originally began with the idea of solely combating heart disease, but within recent years the organization has expanded to providing first aid classes and CPR. They also have an affiliate association that deals with the prevention of strokes (American Stroke Association).
This association in particular uses a variety of different social media platforms in order to gain a following: facebook, twitter, google+ just to name a few. One of their main visual platforms, though, is through the use of Pinterest. Upon going onto the association’s page, I was surprised to find just how much they engage on Pinterest, considering it is relatively new. In total they have 14,765 followers and a combination of 27 boards that range from healthy recipes, to gardening, to useful facts regarding heart disease.
One of the main reasons why Pinterest is successful for this organization is because the platform is used by a vast majority of the younger generation, who are the ones suffering from diseases such as obesity and diabetes. In an article from the AHA newsroom, one of their main focuses is using social media to help stop the onset of childhood obesity. A topic mentioned in the news release relates to the fact that those of a heavier weight tend to spend more time with those who are overweight, which might be true for a site like Pinterest. Those who engage on the site tend to be involved with cooking, exercising, and trying to build a healthier lifestyle for themselves.
Another example is mentioned in a journal put out by AHA; because overweight children are more likely to be socially isolated, a social media website like Pinterest is useful in helping these children find some sort of support. The AHA Pinterest page has a lot of opportunities for viewers to find the “potential of social network-based health promotion interventions”.
When compared to other nonprofit organizations we looked at, I do think AHA has done more in terms of engaging with their audience, at least in a visual sense. An example is seen with the World Pediatric Project: although they have a Pinterest page, they only have 98 followers and don’t update very often. But, this might also be because they are focusing too much on the “written” aspect of social media – twitter and facebook.
This association in particular uses a variety of different social media platforms in order to gain a following: facebook, twitter, google+ just to name a few. One of their main visual platforms, though, is through the use of Pinterest. Upon going onto the association’s page, I was surprised to find just how much they engage on Pinterest, considering it is relatively new. In total they have 14,765 followers and a combination of 27 boards that range from healthy recipes, to gardening, to useful facts regarding heart disease.
One of the main reasons why Pinterest is successful for this organization is because the platform is used by a vast majority of the younger generation, who are the ones suffering from diseases such as obesity and diabetes. In an article from the AHA newsroom, one of their main focuses is using social media to help stop the onset of childhood obesity. A topic mentioned in the news release relates to the fact that those of a heavier weight tend to spend more time with those who are overweight, which might be true for a site like Pinterest. Those who engage on the site tend to be involved with cooking, exercising, and trying to build a healthier lifestyle for themselves.
Another example is mentioned in a journal put out by AHA; because overweight children are more likely to be socially isolated, a social media website like Pinterest is useful in helping these children find some sort of support. The AHA Pinterest page has a lot of opportunities for viewers to find the “potential of social network-based health promotion interventions”.
When compared to other nonprofit organizations we looked at, I do think AHA has done more in terms of engaging with their audience, at least in a visual sense. An example is seen with the World Pediatric Project: although they have a Pinterest page, they only have 98 followers and don’t update very often. But, this might also be because they are focusing too much on the “written” aspect of social media – twitter and facebook.