Social media are designed to be engaging, but often are used as a mechanism by public health organizations and practitioners for mass information dissemination rather than engaging audiences in true multi-way conversations and interactions. In this article we define and discuss social media engagement for public health communication. We examine different levels of engagement for public health communication and consider the potential risks, benefits, and challenges of truly embracing the social component in public health practice. Some implications of engagement for public health communication via social media are addressed, and recommendations for future work and research are proposed.

OR volunteers developed a compart ness measure and a “warehouse-location” heuristic to draw nonpartisan, Constitutional political districts. The heuristic maps compact and contiguous districts of equal population. The minimization criterion and compactness measure is population moment of inertia—the summed squared distances from each person to his district's center. The districting method is particularly useful when legislative impasse or indifference forces courts to intervene. Federal Courts have received a computer plan for possible use in Delaware and have asked for computer districts in Connecticut.

Our findings reveal a unique pattern of linkages between the type of health information sought (wellness, illness, and so on) and health self-assessment among adult Internet users in western Washington State. These associations suggest that distinct health motives may underlie HISB, a phenomenon frequently overlooked in previous research.

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We exposed male and female undergraduates to a horror movie in the presence of a same-age, opposite-gender companion of low or high initial appeal who expressed mastery, affective indifference, or distress. Measures were obtained for the subjects' affective reactions to the movie, the companion's physical appeal, the companion's personality traits, the companion's desirability as a working partner, and the subjects' tendency to acquiesce to apparently erroneous contentions on the part of the companion. We found that men enjoyed the movie most in the company of a distressed woman and least in the company of a mastering woman. Women, in contrast, enjoyed the movie most in the company of a mastering man and least in the company of a distressed man. The intensity of distress in response to the movie followed the same pattern. Mastery did not enhance the female companions' physical appeal. However, it significantly enhanced that of the low-appeal male companion. This companion also benefited from the display of mastery in that pronounced positive traits were ascribed to him. On the female side, in contrast, it was the highly attractive companion who showed a comparable gain in positive traits. The display of distress in response to horror reduced the desirability of both male and female companions as working mates. In working together, female subjects showed a clear tendency to acquiesce to assertions by their male companions who had shown mastery of horror. The findings were considered consistent with predictions from a gender-role socialization model of affect.This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

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The data suggest it may be premature to embrace unilaterally the Internet as an effective asset for health promotion and disease prevention efforts that target the public.

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