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How Twitter may have helped Nigeria contain Ebola
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"Social media is the fastest means of population feedback in the 21st century and provides cheap two-way information [sharing]," says Lawal Bakare, the Nigerian dentist who created the Twitter campaign @EbolaAlert. And sharing information through links to its original form lends it credibility, he added. Bakare launched @EbolaAlert in July to recruit volunteers, disseminate accurate information, and facilitate discussion. Within a few weeks, he had 76â[euro][per thousand]000 followers, though on some days Bakare thinks that messages were shared among considerably more people. 1 @EbolaAlert gives the public advice about prompt reporting and good environmental and personal hygiene. For example, "How to conduct safe & dignified burial of a patient who died from suspected or confirmed Ebola (EVD)," with a link to guidance from the World Health Organization. Others tweets have targeted professionals, including announcing new WHO guidelines on personal protective equipment. Facebook and Unicef The campaign has spread to other platforms, including Facebook, and is helping in nearby countries. Other initiatives are also exploiting social media. In early November, Facebook confirmed plans to relay messages from Unicef in the region. It also introduced a button for users worldwide to donate to charities that are helping with the outbreak. 2 Meanwhile, the BBC has a service in English and French on WhatsApp, the most used online chat application in west Africa, that provides text and audio information on Ebola such as identifying symptoms, how to reduce the risk of spreading the disease, and the need for effective handwashing. 3 To maximise reach WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are providing information to Nigeria's health ministry, local healthcare organisations, popular bloggers, and others with large numbers of Facebook and Twitter connections. Nigeria's population exceeds 174 million people, and it has more than 114 million mobile phone subscriptions....