Twitter Us
We’re on Twitter
1 May 2009
Twitter is a free internet service which allows people to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question – what are you doing?
With an estimated 10 million users, it is one of a number of channels which MEDI-MAIL currently uses to reach online social networkers.
Reaching out
Twitter enables us to post small snippets of information - or ‘tweets’ - with links to jobs and careers, health news.
We also use Twitter to search for people who have mentioned the words ‘MEDI-MAIL or Medical Information’. This means we can respond first hand to any comments, ask our fellow twitterers for feedback about the services we provide, and spread the word of the good work we’re doing
Swine flu health alert
Twitter has proven itself particularly useful during the recent swine flu health alert, helping us to keep the public informed of the latest updates from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and directing users to our modified cold and flu symptom checker. By doing this, we were able to relieve some of the pressure from our call centre staff at particularly busy times.
The sheer number and range of people we can instantly reach across the UK with a single 'tweet' makes Twitter a very practical use of resources. For example, from the week of 20 July, one of our postings about the new National Pandemic Flu Service reached over 22,000 people.
Safety measures
In the interests of patient confidentiality and to avoid any clinical risk, there are no plans to provide any medical information via Twitter and our profile page clearly states that we will not engage in clinical conversations. We merely direct users to appropriate health information pages on our website.
Furthermore, there are clearly defined parameters and editorial checks in place to make sure that everything we write is in keeping with the quality of service the public expects of us.
If you’re on Twitter, why don’t you follow us?
We’d also like to know what you think of our Twitter feed. Is there anything else we can use Twitter for? How can we use it better?
Send us a reply or message on Twitter, or contact us.