Jason Bonander*, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA USA Track: General Track Presentation Topic: Web 2.0 approaches for behaviour change, public health and biosurveillance Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: MaRS Centre Room: CR3 Date: 2008-09-04 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Last modified: 2008-11-06

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At present, strategies used for health tailoring typically require users to complete extensive questionnaires on health and behaviors to tailor sites to health needs. This poses formidable barriers to delivery of tailored messages. Are there alternative means of collecting online behavioral information and increasing the availability of highly tailored health information for health consumers that does not require lengthy and time consuming surveys? The presentation will address early results in testing the following hypothesis: can information contained on an individual's social networking page(s) be used to generate meaningful tailored health messages? The approach to be discussed uses publicly shared information contained in individuals' online profile(s) in social networking sites to tailor health information. Through an opt-in mechanism and connecting the dots within and across individuals' "online networked behavioral life" a tailored health profile could be presented to an individual. Such a tailored health profile could address any number of highly contextually relevant health issues, issues that likely relate to many public health priorities. The most salient public health themes for tailored information are likely to revolve around social, emotional and mental health, sexual and reproductive health/HIV and STD prevention, substance abuse, nutrition, physical activity, chronic and infectious disease prevention, and injury prevention. With an eye to the future, it has the potential to become a very personal facet of an overall electronic personal health record - one that could conceivably connect to other sources of personal health and medical information.