Teen Pregnancy and Social Media
Take advantage of CDC social media tools to promote your teen pregnancy prevention efforts. This quick reference guide can be used as a companion to the CDC Social Media Toolkit for Health Communicators [PDF- 3.76MB], and specifically highlights a number of social media tools with credible, science-based teen pregnancy prevention messages from the CDC. These free, easy-to-use communication tools can help expand the reach of your health messages and help increase public engagement.
Social Media Tools and Messages
Badges
Badges are graphic images that include a message and link to an informational Web page that you can place on your Web site.
Buttons
Buttons are graphic elements that usually include an image, a short call‐to‐action message, and a link for more information. They are often created to be shared, and include HTML code that allows them to be posted on a Web site.
Content Syndication
Content Syndication is a technical application that enables partner organizations to display current CDC health and safety content and allows visitors to the public health partner’s website access to CDC content without leaving the partner website. This tool, provided by CDC, allows the communication and management of the latest science‐based information online. View all of the Web pages available for content syndication on the topic of Teen Pregnancy.
Reproductive Health's Teen Pregnancy Web pages available for content syndicated:
e-Cards
Send a CDC Health e-Card, type in an email address and name, and send a greeting that promotes safe activities. Post the thumbnail image and links to the e-Cards on your Web site, or send them directly to your partners.
Talk to Your Teen About Sex
Help your teen make healthy choices about sex. Talk with your teen about sex, pregnancy, birth control, and relationships. Personalize and send this e-Card.
Facebook
Are you or your organization on Facebook? Use the enormous power of Facebook to spread teen pregnancy prevention messages to your friends and fans. We make it easy for you—simply cut and paste these messages into your status box:
- May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. Every day, 1,100 U.S. teen girls give birth, which is more than in most developed countries. Learn what CDC is doing and what health care providers, parents, and teens can do to prevent teen pregnancy.
- Over 400,000 U.S. teen girls give birth each year. About 50% of teen mothers get a high school diploma, whereas 90% of teen girls who do not give birth get a diploma.
- Some youth are especially in need of effective prevention services. Programs need to ensure that these services reach youth in their communities who are most at risk for teen pregnancy.
You can also become a fan of CDC, and “share” CDC teen pregnancy prevention messages. Just go to www.facebook.com/CDC and click on the “share” button at the bottom of a CDC post to add it to your page.
Podcast and PSAs
Listen, subcribe, view transcript, or download Teen Pregnancy podcasts.
- Teen Pregnancy—What You Need to Know. [PODCAST 1:19 minutes] This podcast is based on the April, 2011 CDC Vital Signs report. Having a child during the teen years comes at a high cost to the young mother, her child, and the community. Get tips to help break the cycle of teen pregnancy.
- Teen Pregnancy—What You Need to Know [PSA 0:60 sec] This 60 second PSA is based on the April, 2011 CDC Vital Signs report. Having a child during the teen years comes at a high cost to the young mother, her child, and the community. Get tips to help break the cycle of teen pregnancy.
Mobile Web Pages
mHealth or mobile health is a term used to describe the practice of using mobile technologies—mobile phones, text messaging services, or applications—to support public health and medicine. Bookmark Teen Pregnancy's mobile topics on your mobile device http://m.cdc.gov/menu.aspx?menuId=62&language=en.
Current web pages available for mobile devices:
Twitter Messages
CDC uses Twitter to seek and share health and safety information in real time with people interested in CDC’s health topics. If your organization has a current twitter feed, you may wish to use that feed to promote teen pregnancy prevention. Here are some sample messages you can use to promote teen pregnancy prevention:
- May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month. Learn what you can do to prevent teen pregnancy.
- Teen mothers are much less likely to finish high school. Help prevent teen pregnancy.
- 400,000 teens give birth each year. Teens need accurate information and access to birth control.
You can also sign up to follow the CDC Twitter feed, and retweet teen pregnancy prevention messages. Simply copy and paste the CDC tweet into your message box, add RT @CDC.gov at the beginning of the tweet, and hit send. If your community has relevant tweeters in this area, you may wish to ask them to re-tweet the information.
Widgets
A widget is an application that can be utilized by partners to display featured health content directly on their desktop, Web site or social media site. Widgets can also generally be shared with friends.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Quiz
Cuestionario acerca del Embarazo en la Adolescencia
Setting Up your Own Social Media Tools and Channels
You may want to set up your own social media tools or channels for communicating messages around teen pregnancy prevention. The Social Media Toolkit for Health Communicators [PDF- 3.76MB], provides in-depth information on how to do this.
Thank You
Thanks for helping to spread the word on teen pregnancy prevention. Social media can personalize and reinforce health messages, making them easier to tailor or target to particular audiences. Social media also creates conversations—information can be sent to your audience, and you can get feedback on the effectiveness and impact of your message. We would like to have a two-way conversation with you! Let us know how you are using social media to disseminate teen pregnancy prevention and other health messages. What worked? What lessons are you learning, and how are you evaluating your efforts? Please send your stories and observations to socialmedia@cdc.gov.
Get email updates
To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address:
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd
Atlanta, GA 30333 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348 - New Hours of Operation
8am-8pm ET/Monday-Friday
Closed Holidays - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
