Homewood Human Solutions Launches Health and Wellness Social Media Program
Using social media to meet the informational wellness needs of a mobile generation
TORONTO, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Homewood Human Solutions™, an industry leader and pioneer in mental health and addictions, organizational health, and Employee and Family Assistance Programs, is now pioneering the use of social media to provide Canadians with expert and meaningful health and wellness information. This initiative includes a new blogging website - http://www.healthyworkplaces.info - packed with posts and opinions by medical and organizational health experts.
"Fifty-nine percent of adults now use the Internet for health information," says Craig Thompson, CEO for Homewood Human Solutions. "While there is a great deal of useful health and wellness information on the Internet, there is also a lot of inaccurate, biased and misleading data and opinions as well. It's often difficult to know where to go for expert opinions and accurate facts."
Research finds that 68 percent of Canadian adults use a general search engine such as Google to research health and wellness topics. While that may not be so surprising, what is surprising is that they found the second most popular search engine after Google is YouTube.
"Social media sites - YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs—are rapidly replacing traditional sites for accessing health-related information," says Judith Plotkin, Vice President, Strategic Growth for Homewood Human Solutions. "Research shows that 34 percent of people searching for health-related information use social media. This figure is much higher with younger adults - the 18 to 24 demographic. We decided it was time to provide all ages with up-to-date health and wellness information via these social networking platforms."
Over the past few months, Homewood Human Solutions has been developing and mounting a comprehensive social network presence and today they are actively Twittering, posting on their Facebook page, initiating discussions via their LinkedIn group, and uploading YouTube videos. From the latest breaking health news to pertinent opinions, from information on national conferences to articles from around the world, from sharing research materials and business cases to voicing opinions, Homewood Human Solutions' social networking project is gaining in popularity as more and more people and organizations discover their activities.
However, Homewood Human Solutions has not forgotten employers who continue to create healthy workplace cultures where both employees and the organization can thrive - not an easy task in challenging economic times. The Healthy Workplace website is unique in the Employee and Family Assistance Program industry, containing daily posts about mental health and addiction, organizational and employee health and wellbeing, and disability management. The site also contains blogs by medical and industry experts responding to issues affecting the workplace as well as resources and invitations to free webinars on a wide range of topics. Users can even choose to receive daily site updates via their email.
"It is about convenience and ease of use," adds Plotkin. "A growing number of people are accessing online information from their smartphones so the site has been designed with that in mind. We have optimized web content to make mobile searches simple which is important considering the fact that in just three years there will be 78 million mobile only Internet users globally!"
While the site is of benefit to anyone seeking accurate and timely health information and resources, it has been created primarily to benefit people leaders, human resources professionals and others working in the occupational and organizational health fields. Currently, healthyworkplaces.info contains dozens of posts, blogs, resources and surveys, but soon the site will be fully interactive and people can share information and participate in ongoing discussions on emerging workplace health issues. It will be a true social media platform providing fully interactive experiences.
Homewood Human Solutions' online community is located at:
http://www.healthyworkplaces.info
http://www.linkedin.com/company/homewood-human-solutions
http://www.facebook.com/HomewoodHumanSolutions
Homewood Human Solutions™ is a leader in mental health strategies for the workplace and provides Employee and Family Assistance Programs (EFAPs / EAPs), workplace interventions, health promotions, psychological assessments and disability management services. The Company serves over 1,600 organizational clients across Canada and supports over one million employees in managing their health and wellbeing.
SOURCE Homewood Human Solutions
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