# 5562
On Tuesday in The CDC And The Zombie Apocalypse, I wrote about a very clever (and effective) preparedness essay written by Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan who told us that if we are prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse . . . we’re pretty much prepared for anything.
Once the news of a `zombie’ blog appearing on the CDC site went viral on Twitter, the number of visitors to the Public Health Matters Blog temporarily overwhelmed their server.
Today, I see the CDC has unveiled a series of `Zombie’ widgets and badges (I’ve one posted on my sidebar) to tie in with that blog. You can grab them from the Emergency Preparedness and Response social media page.
Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse
Buttons and Badges
Buttons and badges share health messages and information about campaigns and causes online. These graphic elements can be posted to any web site, blog, social networking profile, or email signature and link users to more information.
I’m very pleased to see that more and more, government agencies are really starting to `get it’, when it comes to tapping into the power of the `new media’.
Craig Fugate, director of FEMA, often incorporates gentle humor in his Twitter posts. By doing so, his `catchy’ messages are more likely to be retweeted by his followers, and remembered by the public.
This week’s zombie post from the CDC illustrates that the use of popular culture, a bit of whimsy, and a conversational tone (something sadly lacking in a lot of `official blogs’) can be very effective in getting a message out.
Particularly to hard-to-reach audiences like teenagers and young adults.
Hopefully the success of this zombie campaign will inspire other governmental agencies to look at ways to get their messages out in unconventional formats.
In the meantime, kudos go to the CDC, HHS, and FEMA for being willing to try something bold and just a tiny bit controversial.
