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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE 54:384394 (2011)

Does Social Media Improve Communication?


Evaluating the NIOSH Science Blog
Virginia Sublet, PhD,1,y Christina Spring, MA,2z John Howard,
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

2
MD

Background In 2007, NIOSH created the Science Blog as its first social media channel.
The blog has more than 22,000 subscribers. The purpose of the evaluation was to identify
the blog community of readers, its use as a two-way conversation channel and its
effectiveness as an information resource.
Methods Seventy-five readers randomly participated in an online survey from July 2009
to September 2009 to evaluate the Science Blog.
Results Responses indicated that the NIOSH Science Blog was a valued social media
resource. Sixty percent of participants planned to continue using the blog in the next
6 months. A significant proportion of readers reported that they would make changes in the
workplace based on information obtained from the Science Blog.
Conclusions The NIOSH Science Blog provides is a useful communication channel to
provide workplace safety and health information and expand the Institutes reach to new
consumers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 54:384394, 2011. 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
KEY WORDS: social media; NIOSH Science Blog; workplace safety and health;
evaluation

INTRODUCTION
The Internet is a prominent source of information on
almost all topics of interest. People now have the ability to
search for nearly everything online through search engines
and websites, and connect through online communities with
friends, family, and others who share their interests regardless of geographic location or time zones. The advent of
1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Atlanta, Georgia,
2
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health,Washington, District of Columbia
y
Senior Health Scientist, Office of Health Communication, Office of the Director.
z
Health Communication Specialist, Office of Health Communication, Office of the Director.

Director.
*Correspondence to: Dr. Virginia Sublet, PhD, Senior Health Scientist, Office of Health
Communication, Office of the Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 870 Spring Park Loop, Celebration, FL 34747.
E-mail: vxs3@cdc.gov

Accepted 20 October 2010


DOI10.1002/ajim.20921. Published online18 January 2011in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

2011Wiley-Liss,Inc.

sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and


MySpace allow people to instantaneously share information
across the globe and to develop networks with individuals
who they may never otherwise meet in person. Additionally,
individuals now have the unprecedented ability to share
their thoughts and opinions on a wide variety of subjects
through blogsshort for weblogs [Blood, [2000]]
which are essentially online journals. While people used
to define their community as their family, friends, and
neighbors, this definition has expanded well beyond the
physical boundaries of a neighborhood. When individuals
talk about their community, it may include those connections
they have made online across the world. Blogpulse
(Blogpulse Stats, [2010]), a blog search engine developed
by Nielsen, analyzes and reports on daily activity in the
blogosphere. As of April 21, 2010 (Blogspulse.com), there
were 126,861,574 blogs in existence and the number
grows daily. Blogs often have dedicated readers and
many blog clusters have formed which link bloggers in
accordance with their common interests [Williams and
Jacobs, [2004]].

Evaluation of the NIOSH Science Blog

Although blogs have become very popular, there are a


few questions that NIOSH explored in considering the development and implementation of the NIOSH Science Blog.
These included credibility and quality issues. In addition, an
understanding of who and why people blog was unknown. A
study [Johnson and Kaye, [2004]] to assess the credibility of
blogs (defined as worthiness of being believed) surveyed
3,747 respondents online. The survey was linked to 131
blogs of diverse ideologies, 14 blog bulletin boards, chat
rooms, and bloggers who posted the survey. These investigators reported that 73.6% of participants rated blogs as
moderately to very credible resources and were significantly
more credible than other online media sources such as online
newspapers, online news magazines, broadcast and cable
television news, and radio news. A further study conducted
by the same investigators [Johnson et al., [2007]] on blog
credibility reported that a strong predictor of blog credibility
for the blogger is reliance on a blog for information. In other
words, an individual who accesses a blog that represents his/
her shared interest usually rates the blog as a credible
resource. As regards the quality of blogs, the Johnson and
Kaye [[2004]] study indicated that blogs were considered
moderate to very high sources of in-depth quality information by 72.2% of participants. This study provided deeper
insights into the opinions of blog users and the trust that the
blogging community has in these resources. Finally, who
comprises the blogging community was a question. Results
from the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicated that
from 2006 to 2009, the percent of adults (30 and older) who
maintain personal blogs rose from 7% to 11% (Lenhart, 2010,
Lenhart and Fox, [2006]) of Internet users. The use of
personal blogs has declined in younger (under 30) people
who have moved on to social networks like Facebook and
MySpace.
Blogs, to some extent, have a theoretical basis and may
fellow different theories. One is the Social Exchange Theory
[Homans, [1958]]. Social exchange theory proposes that
social behavior is the result of an exchange process. The
purpose of this exchange is to maximize benefits and minimize costs. According to this theory, people weigh the
potential benefits and risks of social relationships. When
the risks outweigh the rewards, people will terminate or
abandon that relationship. Blogs allow readers to go beyond
getting static information and to directly communicate with
other readers and blog managers through comments and
questions. Both sides receive some type of benefit or profit
as a result of the interaction. The selection of a blog social
media format at the time was a very forward thinking
decision for the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH). Blogs had emerged as a platform for
learning in higher education [Williams and Jacobs, [2004]]
and to support the dissemination of educational information
[Boulos et al., [2006]] in the medical field, but not in the
realm of a federal agency focused on occupational safety and

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health. The launch of the NIOSH Science Blog in 2007


marked the first time NIOSH chose to engage stakeholders
and the public in an online conversation about occupational
safety and health research. Prior to the launch of the Blog,
NIOSH had primarily communicated with stakeholders
through more traditional methods, such as conferences, public meetings, federal register notices, scientific journal
articles, the NIOSH website, and electronic newsletter, as
well as other types of public presentations and meetings.
These interactions, in general, required a more formal process for documenting interactions between stakeholders and
NIOSH and comments were typically given in a public
setting. This formality, while allowing for accurate documentation and good record keeping, may also deter some
participants from commenting or providing the feedback
they have on a topic, due to a feeling of public pressure to
agree or disagree with others in the room. This type of
reaction is outlined in the Spiral of Silence Theory
(Noelle-Neumann, [1991]), where individuals may feel the
need to hide or conceal their opinions or views because they
perceive themselves to fall in the minority of a group by
holding that opinion.
The NIOSH Science Blog provided another avenue to
engage both long-standing and new partners and stakeholders in discussions about occupational safety and health
research. This was also a new method of engaging partners,
which could potentially change the kind of feedback NIOSH
receives from them. The decision to create a blog was made
after considering the credibility and quality of this social
media format and the evidence of social medias efficacy at
engaging a large and diverse audience. The NIOSH Science
Blog was the first foray into social media for NIOSH. Since
then, NIOSH has expanded to other channels, including
Facebook NIOSH, MySpace NIOSH, MySpace NIOSH
Firefightersfirst, Twitter (NIOSH, the NIOSH National
Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, and the
NIOSH Office of Mine Safety and Health Research),
Wikipedia, Flickr, and YouTube.

About the Blog


The NIOSH Science Blog is distinctive in that it was
launched by a federal agency and dedicated to scientific
issues. The postings are written by NIOSH researchers
and the topics change with each new researchers expertise
and projects.
A cursory search conducted by NIOSH communication
staff of occupational safety and health, science, and government blogs was conducted prior to the creation of the NIOSH
Science Blog in 2007. The search found a government blog
written by the then-Secretary Michael Leavitt of Health and
Human Services to communicate his priorities (now available as a historical record) and a blog from the Director of the

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Sublet et al.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)s National


Center for Health Marketing (no longer available). When the
NIOSH Science Blog was launched in 2007, it was the only
CDC blog focused on science.
The original concept behind the Blog was to present a
short summary of completed research projects, publications,
or topics at NIOSH and provide readers an opportunity to
comment and engage the researcher in a discussion. The
scope of the blog has expanded over time and NIOSH
researchers are now using it as a mechanism for seeking
input and comments on current and future research. For
example, in one of the most visited blog posts, researchers
asked readers for input on a survey to assess the health and
safety of truck drivers (Posted 11/19/07, www.cdc.gov/
niosh/blog).
To ensure that NIOSH protects private information, a
comment policy was developed and posted on the site. The
policy was based on the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Blog Comment Policy. The NIOSH comment policy is posted on the Blog site (http://www.cdc.gov/
niosh/blog/policy.html, accessed 05-05-2010).

Spreading the Word


The Blog was marketed primarily by e-mail to subscribers of the NIOSH distribution lists, including subscribers to
the monthly electronic newsletter and to the Whats New
feature on the NIOSH website. NIOSH also reached out to
non-governmental workplace safety and health blogs,
including the George Washington University Pump Handle
blog and the blog Effect Measure, requesting that they mention the new NIOSH Science Blog and add NIOSH to their
list of recommended blogs. The NIOSH Agricultural
Research Centers, NIOSH Education and Research
Centers, and Training Project Grantees, which are all programs funded at least in part by NIOSH through research and
training grants, were notified about the blog.
Since the NIOSH Science Blog was started in November
2007 it has had a steady increase in subscriptions that now
numbers over 23,000 (11/29/10). There has been a strong
interest at NIOSH to evaluate how useful this social media
resource is for readers and its value as a vehicle for two-way
communication. There was also an interest in determining
the composition of the Blog community. These were the main
purposes for this investigation. As such, three research questions guided the investigators in their development of the
study.
1.
2.
3.

How useful is the NIOSH Science Blog for readers?


Who is the community of NIOSH Science Blog readers?
Is the NIOSH Science Blog an effective tool for
engaging stakeholders and the public in two-way
communication?

MATERIALS AND METHODS


The investigators determined that an online survey was
the most efficient and cost-effective way to obtain quantitative and qualitative information about the NIOSH Science
Blog. The survey was created using a set of questions that had
been developed by CDC for collecting information from
webpage visitors. The CDC questions had originally been
developed for website usability studies and allowed for
tailoring the questions to a particular program at CDC. No
human subject review board approval was required because
evaluation of the NIOSH Science Blog was considered an
assessment of an educational program.
The survey included 28 questions. The following is the
breakdown in the type of questions asked: 1 question which
welcomed respondents, explained the question formats used,
mentioned how the data would be used, and thanked people
for participating; seven questions focused on collecting
demographic data; and 20 questions focused on collecting
data on how participants were using the Blog.
The online survey was launched on July 10, 2009. Thirty
percent of the visitors to the blog page were invited to
participate in the survey through a pop-up window that
appeared on the page with a link to the survey. We determined
that it was best to place the evaluation on the blog site because
the survey addressed questions, which required specific
information that could be answered most accurately if the
respondent was at the NIOSH Science Blog site. To protect
the privacy of respondents, each participant was coded, but
no personal identifying information was obtained. Once the
maximum of 75 completed survey questionnaires was
reached the survey was closed. The number of participants
was predetermined by CDC in order to offer as many groups
as possible at CDC the opportunity to use this pre-approved
format and yet remain in compliance with the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) requirements. The survey
ended on September 10, 2009. During the survey period there
were four different blog postings. All covered different
topics.
The data were provided to the researchers in a raw form
as well as automatically analyzed by Webeffective Keynote,
the platform used for the survey. Open-ended questions were
analyzed by content analysis.

RESULTS
There were 2,094 blog readers asked to complete the
survey. Of that, 128 self-selected to begin the survey and 43
did not finish usually dropping off after the first question
called (the consent or welcome form) which explained
the survey but did not require any signature. Seventy-five
finished surveys with all closed-ended questions completed
were considered in the analysis. The average time to
complete the survey was 9.6 min.

Evaluation of the NIOSH Science Blog

During the survey period there were four blogs posted.


These included: Going Green: Safe and Healthy Jobs
(Branche, [2009]) (07/01/0908/10/09), H1N1: Protecting
Healthcare Workers (DeAlessandro, [2009]), (08/10/0908/
23/09), Occupational Disease and Nanoparticles (Howard
et al., [2009]), (08/24/0909/08/09), and Respiratory
Protection for Terrorist Threats and Other Emergencies
(Szalajda, [2009]) (09/09/0909/10/09).
The n value varies from 75 in some of the results presented because the open-ended questions were not answered
by all respondents and some questions allowed respondents
to provide more than one answer.

Demographics
Demographic data were collected for gender, age, race,
ethnicity, and education. Survey respondents were overwhelmingly non-hispanic (89%), with white comprising
the majority of that group (92%), followed by black or
African-American (5.3%) and Asian (4%). AmericanIndian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or other
Pacific Islander both comprised 2.7%.
Respondents were predominantly between the ages of 40
and 59 years old (81%), with 11% falling between 60 and 75
and 8% between 18 and 39 years of age. Those with an
advanced college degree made up 54.7% of respondents,
followed by 36% with a college degree, 8% with some
college, and 1.3% with high school or less. Respondents
were relatively evenly divided between male (49%) and
female (51%).
For the question, Which of the following best describes
you? the highest percent of respondents were safety and
health professionals (24%). Health care professionals
(21.3%) was the second highest response followed by governmentfederal, state, county, local government (18.7%),
consultants (8%), company worker >100 employees (6.7%),
academic (5.3%), company manager >100 employees (4%),
industrial hygienist (4%), company worker <100 employees
(2.7%), company managers <100 employees (1.3%) and
other (4%). There were no respondents who classified themselves as company employer/owners or as union
representatives.
The breakdown of responses to the question, Which
industry do you work in? showed that 38.7% of respondents
reported working in the healthcare industry, 6.7% of respondents were from the manufacturing industry, and another 6.7%
from the services-non-healthcare industry. The agriculture,
forestry, and fishing sector was represented by 2.7% of
participants, and the wholesale and retail trade industry
was represented by 1.3% of participants. No respondents
classified themselves as being from the mining, transportation, warehousing and utilities, or construction industry.
Forty-four percent of respondents classified themselves
under other for industry.

387

Factors That Influenced Participants


Interest in the Science Blog
Top 3 other blog sites visited
by participants?
An open-ended question asked What are the top 3 other
blog sites you visit? Only 21 participants responded to this
question. Participants could list 3 sites (not including the
NIOSH Science Blog). As shown in Figure 1, the majority of
participants mentioned visiting the CDC and Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sites. Only two
participants reported using international sites (European
Union-Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(EU-OSHA), Canadian Center of Occupational Safety and
Health (CCOSH), International Labor Organization (ILO),
Health and Safety Risk-United Kingdome (HSR-UK),
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),
Canada and Australia); all others listed only domestic
sites.

What Challenges Brought Visitors to the


Blog? (n 51)
Fifty-one respondents answered this open-ended question. Twenty-six respondents noted that they were looking for
information on H1N1, influenza, or workplace protection.
Nanoparticles were mentioned by six respondents as the
reason for reading the blog. Other reasons were respiratory
protections and/or respirators (2), terrorist events (1), an
update or had received a notification by email of a new blog
post (7), healthcare workers protection (4), infectious disease
hazards (1), hearing (1), green issues (1), supporting
Obamas health reform plan (1), and depression in the workplace (1).

FIGURE1. Top3othersitesvisitedbyparticipants(n 21).[Colorfigurecanbeviewedin


the online issue,which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

388

Sublet et al.

How Often Did Participants Visit the


Blog? (n 75)
Thirty-four percent of respondents answered that they
had never previously visited the NIOSH Science Blog. After
this group, 32% of respondents noted that they visited the
Science Blog when notified of a new posting. The remaining
respondents fell into the following groups: 14.7% visited
each month, 10.7% visited less than once a month, 6.7%
visited once a week, and 1.3% answered other.

Which Type of Workplace Safety and


Health Information Did Participants
Want to Find? (n 75)
The responses to the question, Which type of workplace safety and health information do you typically access
through the NIOSH Science Blog? are detailed in Figure 2.

What Expectations Do You Have of the


NIOSH Science Blog?
All 75 of the survey participants responded to this question. Respondents could check all that applied (387 total
responses provided). Accurate information was the highest
expectation with 56 responses selected by participants.
This was followed by timely information (48 responses),
easy access information (47 responses), clear terminology
and language (44 responses), comprehensive information
(44 responses), easy to read/scan information (44 responses),
and easy to use/navigate information (41 responses). There
were fewer responses for organized layout (32 responses),
high quality photos/images (16 responses), no expectations
(8 responses), and appealing color scheme (5 responses).

Assessment of the Blog


Responses to the question regarding overall satisfaction
with the NIOSH Science Blog are shown in Figure 3.

Likes and Dislikes


There were two additional open-ended questions asking
respondents what they liked most about the blog and what
they liked least about it. There were 25 responses to the
question about what they liked most and 24 responses to what
they liked least. Selected responses that were representative
of the overall response for each of those questions are listed in
Table I.

Usefulness
A series of questions in the survey were included to
gauge respondents opinions on how useful the NIOSH
Science Blog is as a resource for action and information.
The specific results are presented in Table II.

Suggested Improvements of the


Science Blog
The investigators asked two questions about how
NIOSH could improve the Blog. One was a multiple choice
question providing structured answers and one open-ended
question asking for participant suggestions. The first question
asked What do you think would have the greatest impact on
improving the NIOSH Science Blog? and respondents
could select as many of the six answer categories as they
felt were relevant. Data are presented in Figure 4. Different
topics elicited by far the most responses, with almost half of
respondents (34) selecting this option.
The open-ended question asked the same question,
How can NIOSH improve your satisfaction with the
Blog? but provided respondents the opportunity to craft
their own response. Twenty-six respondents provided

FIGURE2. Informationparticipantsareinterestedinfinding(n 75;non-exclusivedata;


# of responses 230). [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available

FIGURE 3. Overall satisfaction with the Blog (n 75). [Color figure can be viewed in the

at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

online issue,which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Evaluation of the NIOSH Science Blog

389

TABLE I. Selected Representative ResponsesWhat Respondents Liked Most and Least About the NIOSH Science Blog?
Like Most about the Science Blog

Like Least about the Science Blog

Itis national
Highlights ofrecent NIOSH-sponsoredresearch
Current topics
Sufficient information on topic
Scientific topics
The contentis relevant, accurate and current. Also,there
are plentyoflinkstofollow for more information
NIOSH keepingcurrent (2)

I wouldlike to see a greater numberof theprofessionals contribute to the topics in each blog
Notrespondingto my topics
Arcane topics
Noteasy to see how to connect to other relatedpostings/topics
Couldnt just type in the topic ofinterest H1N1to get info
Needsto havemore frequent contentupdates
Notso frequently updated. Andyoucouldloosen upa biteven though you are a government
body . . . We wont think any less of you!
Too short- sometimes you really wantmore detail,but I realize that a blog can overdo it also
I think you could usemore definition in yourorganization: greateruse ofbold-facedheadings,forexample
The lackof Federal and Statelegislation updates/watches on Health relatedissues public orprivate.
Plus there is a disconnect in the informationsystem,which is quite frustrating,without the supporting
documentation from (Gov and Univ resources) with the linksnecessary for supportingand assisting
thehospital andpre-hospital sectorstobetterplan andprepare in support of CDC,HHS, and FDA
informationstatements and guidelines
Mostof the articles are ofpertinent interest tothemajority of the healthcare industry,but notso much of
thepre-hospital EMS, and Fire Service EMTfirst respondersthat are just as much part of thathealthcare
chain.This is especially trueif MCI,WMD (CBRN) and other natural man-madedisasters arepotentially
part of any healthcare equation in future planning andpreparation

Current information
Current topics
Sufficient information on the topic

Scientific topics

Availability and anothersite toresearchtopics


Its brevity . . . can follow upif there is more information needed
The interaction with great informationformexperts across the
country contributing.I also appreciatedthe new ideas that
were generated

answers. Eight respondents said there was nothing that


needed to be changed about the blog. Other respondents
provided concrete suggestions as to how to improve satisfaction. Selected representative responses are listed in
Figure 5.

any of the options within the next 6 months. More than one
response could have been chosen. A total of 178 responses
were recorded from the 75 survey respondents. The
responses are show in Figure 7.

DISCUSSION
FUTURE USE OF THE NIOSH SCIENCE BLOG
Survey participants were asked, How likely is it that
you will still be using the NIOSH Science Blog 6 months
from now? Responses are displayed in Figure 6.
Participants were also provided a list of potential behaviors or activities and asked the likelihood they would perform

This study sought to describe the role of the NIOSH


Science Blog as a resource, develop a picture of who comprises the Blog community, and determine if it is useful as
a two-way communication format. The objectives for
creating the NIOSH Science Blog originally were to utilize
social media as a resource for stakeholders and to offer a

TABLE II. Usefulness of NIOSH Science Blog as a Resource (n 75)

Scale
Very useful
Useful
Somewhat useful
Not very useful
Notuseful

Repository of workplace safety


and health information (%)

An important resource
for doing your work (%)

A tool for collaborating


with others (%)

A resource for
partners (%)

Educational information
for workers (%)

50.7
38.7
8
1.3
1.3

46.7
37.3
13.3
1.3
1.3

30.7
38.7
20
8
2.7

29.3
46.7
16
4
4

29.3
46.7
16
4
4

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Sublet et al.

FIGURE4. Howtoimprovetheblog(n 75;non-exclusivedata;#responses 86).[Colorfigurecanbeviewedintheonlineissue,whichis


available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

two-way form of exchange on scientific topics. Metrics


gathered outside of this survey data on overall web
traffic to the NIOSH Science Blog have shown that the
size of the community of readers of this blog continues to
grow.

How Useful Is the NIOSH Science Blog


for Readers?
The survey results suggest that the Science Blog is
viewed by respondents as a useful social media resource.

FIGURE5. SelectedrepresentativeresponsesonsuggestedchangestoimprovesatisfactionwiththeNIOSHscienceBlog.[Colorfigurecanbe
viewed in the online issue,which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Evaluation of the NIOSH Science Blog

391

FIGURE 6. How likelyis it that youwill still be usingthe NIOSH Science Blog6 monthsfrom now? (n 75). [Color figure can beviewed in the
online issue,which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

This is corroborated by their answers to several survey


questions. Responses from survey participants (at least
69.4%) indicated that the Blog was a useful or very useful
resource of information. When asked specific questions
about its usability the majority answered that it was very
useful as a repository of workplace safety and health

information, an important resource, a useful tool for collaborating with others, a useful resource for partners, and that it
contained useful or very useful educational information.
Another indication of the perceived value of the
NIOSH Science Blog among respondents was that 60%
answered that they would definitely be using the NIOSH

FIGURE 7. Based on what you read on the NIOSH Science Blog today, how likely are you to make any of the following changes in the next
6 months? (n 75; Non-Exclusive Data; # of responses 178). [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at
wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

392

Sublet et al.

Science Blog in 6 months and there were no respondents


who indicated that they would not use the NIOSH
Science Blog again in the future. An interesting factor about
this response was that it included almost 35% of participants who had never visited the NIOSH Science Blog
prior to participating in the survey. This could be construed
as an indication of the overall perceived value of the
Blog even among a group who are visiting the site for the
first time.
In addition to the perceived value of the Blog, 93.3% of
participants indicated that in the next 6 months they would
make changes in the workplace such as using the information
on the Blog to educate others, seek more information on a
specific topic, change workplace safety and health procedures and policies, and make changes in workplace safety
and health engineering controls, safety equipment or protective clothing. This high level of response regarding the intent
to make changes potentially indicated that respondents did
find value in the information presented on the Blog as well as
the interaction with NIOSH.

Who Is the Community of Science


Blog Readers?
The demographic data collected from the survey
revealed that the majority of the respondents were highly
educated non-Hispanic, white, and at least 40 years of age or
older. The respondents were also evenly split between male
and female. It is difficult to determine if these characteristics
can be generalized to the larger readership because of the
sample size and the length of time the survey was posted.
However, it is possible that this is at least somewhat reflective
of the larger readership group.
The respondents were mostly safety and health professionals, healthcare professionals, or government employees. While these data were collected over the course of four
different blog posts, to help increase the likelihood of getting
a more accurate snapshot of the readership, it is still difficult
to say if this is representative of the larger group of readers.
To determine if there were differences in the audience based
on the topic of the blog posting, the data were segmented
by the timeframe collected and matched with the corresponding blog topic at that time. The results of this effort showed
that education, race, ethnicity, and age did not differ
when comparing individual blogs to the overall results.
This was reaffirmed as safety and health professionals,
healthcare providers, and government representatives were
the highest percentage of respondents in blog postings
covering the survey period. The data collected for the industrial sectors also reflected the strong presence of respondents
in the healthcare industry, as this group comprised the
majority of survey participants for three of the four Blog
postings.

Is the NIOSH Science Blog an Effective


Tool for Engaging Stakeholders and the
Public in a Two-Way Conversation?
People read and write for many reasons. They want to
develop new and strengthen current relationships, extend
knowledge, obtain resources, learn about diverse perspectives, and/or have the opportunity to voice their opinions.
These activities are achieved with a blog through two-way
communication or a back and forth conversation between at
least two parties. In the case of the NIOSH Science Blog, the
two-way communication begins with the posting of a blog
topic. The intent is that readers will expand their knowledge,
obtain resources, and learn about the diverse perspectives
encompassing workplace and health issues when they read
and utilize the information posted. During the time that the
survey was active there were comments received for each
topic posted (data not shown). Eighteen comments were
posted about the Going Green Safe and Healthy Jobs post,
16 for the H1N1: Protecting Healthcare Workers post, 5 for
the Occupational Disease and Nanoparticles post, and 1 for
the Respiratory Protection for Terrorist Threats and Other
Emergencies post (this blog was posted on the day before
the survey ended). Comments from readers have ranged
from asking questions about the topic, offering opinions
about the workplace or supporting NIOSH for the selection
of the topic. The NIOSH scientist who wrote the blog post
responds to the readers posts. Using this blog format has
proven to be an excellent means to establish two-way communication with NIOSH stakeholders and the public. In the
future this will increase as changes are made to improve
the Blog, which could include improving the management of
the comment process and increasing the role of stakeholders
and partners in Blog topic selection.
The investigators examined the data regarding how
respondents reported using the Blog and additionally their
intent to continue visiting the site. From the data collected
through the survey, it appears that the Blog continues to
attract new visitors, as almost 35% of respondents indicated
that they had never visited the Blog before. Of this group, it is
unknown if any will return or attempt to communicate with
NIOSH through a comment. However, no one responding to
the survey said they would not be using the Blog in 6 months
so it is possible that these first time readers will become
subscribers or will access it more in the future potentially
submitting comments.
When asked about what changes would have the greatest impact in improving the NIOSH Science Blog, the
majority of respondents indicated that they would like to
see different topics. It is difficult to determine if the suggestion for different topics is a result of the respondents
being predominantly individuals in the health care industry
or if this opinion is more widespread among all the subscribers. A different topic is used as the focus of each new

Evaluation of the NIOSH Science Blog

NIOSH Science Blog post. So while the topics are constantly changing, it is possible that the topics are of selective
interest to readers.
The majority of survey respondents reported themselves
as being age 40 or older. It is possible that the age of this
group impacted how they viewed the Blog as a tool for
two-way communication. It is known, however, that
individuals in this age range are becoming more significantly involved in social media outlets as are younger
individuals (Lenhart et al., [2010]), so there is the possibility that individuals from a younger age group and the
40 or older age group would view a blogs potential as a
mechanism for two-way communication in a similar way.
The analysis of the survey data has provided the investigators with a picture of the NIOSH Science Blog audience
and their perceptions regarding the usefulness of the Blog.
However, it is difficult to determine if these data can be
extrapolated to a larger group. Additionally, while some data
were collected regarding the respondents intent to use the
information and to revisit the Blog site in the future, it is not
enough information to clearly state whether or not the
NIOSH Science Blog is clearly a more useful two-way
communication tool compared to other communication
channels.

Limitations
There were a number of limitations in this study. One
limitation of the study was that the questionnaire was not
originally developed for the purpose of evaluating a blog, but
instead was adapted for that purpose by the researchers.
There was an advantage to the investigators in using a
pre-approved questionnaire that did not have to be cleared
through the U.S. Office of Management and Budget process
and could be launched quickly. However, despite these
advantages, the use of the pre-approved survey limited the
investigators ability to target the questions specifically to
their research interests about the NIOSH Science Blog as the
pre-approved survey was originally developed to measure
website usability. Another limitation of the survey was that
many of the pre-approved questions had limited options for
modification of the question itself or the possible answers that
respondents could provide to the investigators. This reduced
the investigators ability to gather more in-depth data about
respondents opinions, views, and use of the NIOSH Science
Blog. The sample size made it difficult to do statistical
analysis or extrapolate the survey results to the larger
NIOSH Science Blog community.
As with any survey, there is also a potential for bias, as
respondents are those who select to take part in the survey.
While this potential for bias was somewhat adjusted for by
randomly choosing NIOSH Science Blog visitors to receive
the option to take the survey, those that actually did decide to
complete it may be more motivated to share their opinions

393

and provide positive insights than others. In addition, some


survey participants may have a connection to NIOSH through
training, research funding, or other means and therefore they
may be biased in their responses to the survey.
The Blog topic may have influenced the results as well.
For example, during the H1N1 blog posting 40 of the needed
75 surveys were completed. Because this topic was very
focused on healthcare and health, it may be part of the reason
why so many of the survey respondents reported working in
the healthcare industry. A longer time period for posting the
survey as well as a larger respondent pool, would have helped
to determine if this was the case. However, because segmentation and analysis of the blogs provided no real differences
this may indicate that the main readers are health and safety
professionals, healthcare providers and government.

CONCLUSIONS
The NIOSH Science Blog is one of the current social
media channels in place at NIOSH and future work should
focus enhancing the use of this channel through new and
diverse activities to reach new audiences.
The current research has given a snapshot in time of the
NIOSH Science Blog. While the study was limited in some
aspects, the data shows that the Blog has value for leaders and
further research is merited. Another study might be conducted to get more detailed information on the blog audience
and the usability of the blog as a two-way form of communication. A future investigation would benefit most from a
survey tool that is specifically developed to elucidate information from respondents regarding their use and intent to
interact with others and NIOSH via the blog platform.
Given that the majority of the respondents reported that
they found the Blog to be a useful tool and planned to visit it
again in the future, it could be argued that the NIOSH Science
Blog has the potential to significantly impact behavior
change in the workplace. A high number of participants
indicated they will use information to educate others through
training or disseminating the information on the blog. In
addition, several respondents indicated they would make a
change in workplace safety and health procedures and
policies or make changes in workplace safety and health
engineering controls, safety equipment, or protective clothing. These are significant findings in the effort to improve and
protect the health and safety of the nations workforce.
The topic of the blog posting may also be an important
influencing factor in community readership. There are more
than 23,000 Science Blog subscribers who are prompted by
RSS feeds and emails when a new posting appears. This
probably accounts for a significant percentage of readers
based on topic interest with 32% of survey participants
reporting that they visit the NIOSH Science Blog after being
notified of a new posting. There also appears to be another
group of people browsing the Internet for topics of interest

394

Sublet et al.

who stumble on the NIOSH Science Blog, as shown by the


percentage (35%) of survey participants who indicated that
they had never visited the Blog before. So the blog post topic
may influence who comes to visit the blog, as some postings
may have an appeal to a wider audience and be timelier in
terms of current events compared to others. Some of the firsttime visitors mentioned that they were impressed with the
Science Blog. As a result, these bloggers may return and
become subscribers. NIOSH may want to consider adding to
the Blog the opportunity for visitors to register their job and
industry classification. While participation would be voluntary, it may assist NIOSH in targeting the blog topics to be
more closely aligned with visitors professional backgrounds.

Reaching Present and Future Audiences


Although the generalizability of the survey results is
limited, there were several important suggestions obtained
from the findings regarding the relevance, impact, and reach
of the blog in the future. A potential way to broaden the
community of readers is to follow the respondents suggestion of expanding the topics that are covered in the blog. The
results from the survey suggest that adding more topics of
general interest would be a valuable change to the NIOSH
Science Blog. This suggestion is consistent with what
NIOSH had already seen in the web metrics for the blog
site, where blog topics that concentrate more on internal
NIOSH programs have been much less popular then those
with broader appeal. It is also consistent with feedback that
the investigators received from attendees at national occupational safety and health meetings and public health
meetings.
The survey also showed that there could be some
improvement in the use of the Science Blog for two-way
communication. Currently, readers submit their comments
and questions, which are then reviewed and posted by the
blog moderator. The reader then waits for the blog author to
answer the comment. This format is not completely atypical
for government blogs that are a form of a mediated blog,
and in general people do have a waiting period after commenting on any blog before they see a response.
Nevertheless, it would be beneficial to the communication
between NIOSH and those providing comments to provide a
more immediate feedback mechanism. Other factors that
may impact the number of comments are that many users
are not in the generation shown to highly use social media
although this is changing. As a result, there is less familiarity
and perhaps some mistrust of this type of communication.
The NIOSH Science Blog has already made a potentially
significant contribution to expanding the reach of workplace
safety and health. This study has helped to create a picture in
time of the composition of the NIOSH Blog community and
obtain opinions about its use. While the findings may not
reflect in entirety the larger Blog community, it does provide

a good basis for future studies on the NIOSH Science Blog as


a mechanism for two-way communication and whether or not
it is engaging new stakeholders in conversations about workplace safety and health. Future changes in the Blog are
unknown. Using this social media resource for new and
innovative purposes could enhance the reach and impact
of information dissemination for NIOSH in areas such as
emergency response. Disasters require in-depth, accurate
information quickly. The Science Blog could serve as a
valued resource for first responders and medical personnel
during these events. The investigators will use these preliminary data as a basis for developing a future scientific study
design and survey instrument more appropriate for gaining
insight about the benefits and drawbacks of this social media
resource at NIOSH. The Science Blog is an opportunity for
NIOSH to share its great wealth of knowledge and credibility,
to build worker communities, and profoundly expand its
horizons in the future.

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