Listening to UGC – AIDS/PPSA/ATL (4/23)
“They just didn’t get it, did they?”
First, let’s do the acronyms.
UGC = User Generated Content
ATL = Atlanta, probably got that one.
AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
PPSA = Personal Public Service Announcement
The whole point of the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement in Philadelphia was to create new types of messages to encourage young people to be tested for HIV. Over a quarter of a million people in the US are infected with HIV and don’t know it. The unknowing infected don’t receive the downright miraculous treatments available and are at greater risk for transmitted HIV. Frankly, old media isn’t proving very effective in reaching young people with AIDS information. New media has to be better.
On November 6 in Philadelphia, we held a crash course workshop on HIV/AIDS for 25 college students. Doctors, public health officials, AIDS activists, and people living with HIV made great presentations on HIV/AIDS science, prevention, treatment, testing, and vaccines. A lot of information.
The next morning (11/7), we divided the students into three teams, handed them a backpack of equipment (phones, wireless computer, and a cheapy video camera), gave them a subway pass, and told them to make videos to convince young people to be tested for HIV. The videos they produced had to work on cell phones. And oh yeah, the teams had to finish in 7 hours. The teams took off at a run.
Later that night we screened all the videos – 10 in all. Amazing, the teams produced some great videos (you can see them at http://www.nmi.uga.edu/aids_ppsa/Philly/). But afterward, on of the health experts stopped me.
“Sure, they are great videos. But they didn’t include the right info. They just didn’t get it did they?” She was exasperated.
All of these experts had been working on the problem of convincing people to be tested for years and some for decades. They had all felt the frustration when their well thought-out and extensively researched campaigns didn’t accomplish all that they wanted them to. When they presented to the students, they hit on all the messages the experts knew should work to convince college students to be tested. But the info that mattered most to the experts didn’t matter as much to the students. Our student teams picked up on different information. For instance, almost every video included the information that you could be tested and have a result in twenty minutes.
“That is old news,” the expert told me. “Besides, when your life is on the line, why would the time it took to get the results matter? The students just picked up on the wrong things.”
She was right. But she was also dead wrong. Yeah, to a 30-something trained health professional, the 20 minutes didn’t matter. But to the 18-25 year olds making the videos, that fact was salient, relevant, important. Those PPSA messages the students produced provide vital clues for developing effective messages for that age group.
For media organizations, user generated content is the Holy Grail. Imagine if you can get people to produce content that you can sell to people. Brilliant! Of course we might wind up with a media universe populated by adorable baby videos and people getting hit with whiffle balls in unfortunate parts of their anatomies. But if that is what the people want well …
For organizations seeking to connect with difficult to reach audiences, user created content offers a priceless pay-off as well. The messages in user generated content point the way to successful and effective communication strategies.
The CDC (ok, more acronyms – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov) helped with the Philadelphia AIDS PPSA project. The CDC saw the real value in the project’s user generated content.
Now the CDC is working with us on the next iteration of the AIDS PPSA project – in Atlanta on April 23rd. You can read all about the project at http://www.nmi.uga.edu/aids_ppsa/. Students and faculty from nine different universities will meet for a day of workshops on HIV/AIDS on April 22. Then on April 23, students will shoot videos using only cellphones and wireless technology. We will debut at least 15 videos at a wrap/premiere party on the evening of April 23. Verizon is providing the equipment and services as well as other resources for the ATL AIDS PPSA project (the funded the whole thing in Philly). And, the CDC is providing important funding for the Atlanta project.
The AIDS/PPSA/ATL has got to feel weird for CDC. With an $8B federal budget and 4600 employees, they are used to telling us how to stay healthy. Now they are counting on a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears college students with cellphones to create messages that will help young people like them improve their lives. It is a whole new world for the CDC, but they are adapting.
Last time the AIDS PPSA taught us a lot. This time it will teach us a bunch as well. But the biggest lesson is one that the CDC has already learned. There is a time to lecture and
there is a time to listen. Shhhhhh.
First, let’s do the acronyms.
UGC = User Generated Content
ATL = Atlanta, probably got that one.
AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
PPSA = Personal Public Service Announcement
The whole point of the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement in Philadelphia was to create new types of messages to encourage young people to be tested for HIV. Over a quarter of a million people in the US are infected with HIV and don’t know it. The unknowing infected don’t receive the downright miraculous treatments available and are at greater risk for transmitted HIV. Frankly, old media isn’t proving very effective in reaching young people with AIDS information. New media has to be better.
On November 6 in Philadelphia, we held a crash course workshop on HIV/AIDS for 25 college students. Doctors, public health officials, AIDS activists, and people living with HIV made great presentations on HIV/AIDS science, prevention, treatment, testing, and vaccines. A lot of information.
The next morning (11/7), we divided the students into three teams, handed them a backpack of equipment (phones, wireless computer, and a cheapy video camera), gave them a subway pass, and told them to make videos to convince young people to be tested for HIV. The videos they produced had to work on cell phones. And oh yeah, the teams had to finish in 7 hours. The teams took off at a run.
Later that night we screened all the videos – 10 in all. Amazing, the teams produced some great videos (you can see them at http://www.nmi.uga.edu/aids_ppsa/Philly/). But afterward, on of the health experts stopped me.
“Sure, they are great videos. But they didn’t include the right info. They just didn’t get it did they?” She was exasperated.
All of these experts had been working on the problem of convincing people to be tested for years and some for decades. They had all felt the frustration when their well thought-out and extensively researched campaigns didn’t accomplish all that they wanted them to. When they presented to the students, they hit on all the messages the experts knew should work to convince college students to be tested. But the info that mattered most to the experts didn’t matter as much to the students. Our student teams picked up on different information. For instance, almost every video included the information that you could be tested and have a result in twenty minutes.
“That is old news,” the expert told me. “Besides, when your life is on the line, why would the time it took to get the results matter? The students just picked up on the wrong things.”
She was right. But she was also dead wrong. Yeah, to a 30-something trained health professional, the 20 minutes didn’t matter. But to the 18-25 year olds making the videos, that fact was salient, relevant, important. Those PPSA messages the students produced provide vital clues for developing effective messages for that age group.
For media organizations, user generated content is the Holy Grail. Imagine if you can get people to produce content that you can sell to people. Brilliant! Of course we might wind up with a media universe populated by adorable baby videos and people getting hit with whiffle balls in unfortunate parts of their anatomies. But if that is what the people want well …
For organizations seeking to connect with difficult to reach audiences, user created content offers a priceless pay-off as well. The messages in user generated content point the way to successful and effective communication strategies.
The CDC (ok, more acronyms – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov) helped with the Philadelphia AIDS PPSA project. The CDC saw the real value in the project’s user generated content.
Now the CDC is working with us on the next iteration of the AIDS PPSA project – in Atlanta on April 23rd. You can read all about the project at http://www.nmi.uga.edu/aids_ppsa/. Students and faculty from nine different universities will meet for a day of workshops on HIV/AIDS on April 22. Then on April 23, students will shoot videos using only cellphones and wireless technology. We will debut at least 15 videos at a wrap/premiere party on the evening of April 23. Verizon is providing the equipment and services as well as other resources for the ATL AIDS PPSA project (the funded the whole thing in Philly). And, the CDC is providing important funding for the Atlanta project.
The AIDS/PPSA/ATL has got to feel weird for CDC. With an $8B federal budget and 4600 employees, they are used to telling us how to stay healthy. Now they are counting on a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears college students with cellphones to create messages that will help young people like them improve their lives. It is a whole new world for the CDC, but they are adapting.
Last time the AIDS PPSA taught us a lot. This time it will teach us a bunch as well. But the biggest lesson is one that the CDC has already learned. There is a time to lecture and
there is a time to listen. Shhhhhh.
posted by Grady College /University of Georgia at
6:02 AM
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