It is amazing to watch the popularity of “social media” such as facebook and twitter grow and grow! Did you know that in the last 3 years the active users of facebook has grown from 12 million to 500 million! You are hard pressed any more to find someone who does not have a facebook account to stay connected to their family, reconnect with old friends or classmates. This growth of facebook has opened up a whole new way to help doctors and educators teach and inform the world. In order to stay connected to my patients I have set up a facebook account for my practice which I share up to date research and tips on staying healthy. To visit my page simply go to http://www.facebook.com/bellevuechiropractor. I also want to give you some tips on how to use facebook to stay healthy.
1. Our first step in using facebook as a health resource is to figure out what areas of your health need help. Is it diet? Vitamins? Exercise? Maybe your health is right where you want it. If this is the case then general updates on current finding in the health care field is perfect. No matter what it is find it, then this topic will be where you direct your search. One piece of advise, do not try to tackle everything all at once. If you are getting tips on exercise while getting healthy recipes, while learning about Vitamin D, odds are you are going to get burnt out on this very quickly. Ease into this process by focusing on one thing at a time.
2. Step number two is to take your topic you found in step one and find find facebook pages to become a fan of that will share tips, and ideas with you to better your health. The way that you do this is to go to Google. In the Google search bar type “site:facebook.com facebook+health” or “site:facebook.com facebook+fitness”. This will bring up a list of facebook pages on the topic you have chosen. If diet is the topic you have chosen substitute the word “diet” for the word “health” or “fitness”. Once you have chosen a few of the sites that jump out at you, click the link to enter that “fan page”. Once you are on the fan page, simply click the “become a fan” button. You should now be a fan of that perticular page and will start to receive their health posts to your facebook “wall”. You can also simply go onto facebook and in their search bar type your topic of interest which will bring up a list of relevant pages.
3. The final step once you have become a fan of the pages you like, is to start to use the tips and information that you start to receive. The first thing you need to know in this step is that it may be slightly overwhelming at first. For the first few days I recommend you read as many of the update posts as possible. This will give you an idea if the pages you selected are applicable and useful for you. If any of the posts are not, simply go to that page and unfriend them. After you do this you should have a clear idea which fan page’s are going to give you greatest bang for your time.
With the popularity of facebook and the wealth of information that you can find on it, it would be a shame if we did not utilize for the betterment of our health and wellness. I hope these tips helped!
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