2.3. Social media: the new frontier for health communication

A report on the digital economy recently released (3) by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) puts Brazil in fourth place in the world ranking of Internet users. With 120 million people connected, Brazil lags behind only the United States (242 million), India (333 million) and China (705 million). After Brazil, there are Japan (118 million), Russia (104 million), Nigeria (87 million), Germany (72 million), Mexico (72 million) and the United Kingdom (59 million) [31].

Regarding social media, their use in Brazil is also highlighted. More than 260 million people in Latin America, 42% of the total population, regularly access social networks. According to a survey by the eMarketer agency, 86.5% of users use smartphones to connect to networks. Brazil is the country with the most users of the continent, with a total of 93.2 million by the end of the 2017. In Mexico, there are 56 million, followed by Argentina with 21.7 million [32].

This growing expansion of social networks did not go unnoticed by the Brazilian Senate, which organized a seminar to better understand how different social networks have impacted both the politics itself and the logic of e-government and citizen participation [33]. Experts affirm that networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram allow the public, which previously only received messages, to now produce content and intensify the impact that information and opinions can have, including regarding politics and the public image of institutions.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)<sup>1</sup> , as published in its guidelines for the use of social media by parliament members, "social networks" (also known as "Web 2.0") are a wideranging set of web-based tools that allow individuals to access, participate and interact with third parties (whether being individuals, companies or public-sector entities), when and how they wish [34].

#### 2.4. The institutional social media of the Brazilian Senate

Social networks, or social media, have become systematically part of the Senate's everyday institutional life since 2010, initially as new media for the dissemination of facts and legislative news, but which evolved into interactivity with citizens and society in 2011 and have been increasingly used for corporate communication since 2013, with a more intensified work by the

<sup>1</sup> Founded in 1889, the IPU is the international organization that brings together representatives of parliaments of several sovereign states. Its purpose is to promote inter-parliamentary dialogue on a global level and work for peace and cooperation among peoples from the development of representative institutions [34]. The IPU was founded by William Randall Cremer and Frédéric Passy, who "envisioned an organization where conflicts were resolved through international arbitration." Thus, in order to mediate contacts between parliaments in a multilateral manner, the IPU acts preferentially in the following areas: "representative democracy, human rights and humanitarian law, gender equality, international trade, education, science and culture" ("União Interparlamentar," In: WIKIPEDIA PT, 2013).

Coordination of Advertising and Marketing. Since then, it has been an important tool to foster closer, more effective and efficient relationships between the Senate and different target audiences. This basically reinforces the line of action advocated by Schellong regarding the employment of CRM—Citizen Relationship Management systems—which bring technology, people and business processes together, and was conceived to be used by the public sector, as a business tool for developing closer ties between citizens and government institutions [35–38].

The Senate's profiles on the social media are divided basically into four categories: Institutional, Journalistic, Segmented and Public Service.

The institutional profiles (not journalistic or hard news, but institutional in nature) are as follows:


examined a drug abuse campaign, which targeted young people. The same rationale could be

A report on the digital economy recently released (3) by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) puts Brazil in fourth place in the world ranking of Internet users. With 120 million people connected, Brazil lags behind only the United States (242 million), India (333 million) and China (705 million). After Brazil, there are Japan (118 million), Russia (104 million), Nigeria (87 million), Germany (72 million), Mexico (72 million)

Regarding social media, their use in Brazil is also highlighted. More than 260 million people in Latin America, 42% of the total population, regularly access social networks. According to a survey by the eMarketer agency, 86.5% of users use smartphones to connect to networks. Brazil is the country with the most users of the continent, with a total of 93.2 million by the end of the

This growing expansion of social networks did not go unnoticed by the Brazilian Senate, which organized a seminar to better understand how different social networks have impacted both the politics itself and the logic of e-government and citizen participation [33]. Experts affirm that networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram allow the public, which previously only received messages, to now produce content and intensify the impact that information and opinions can have, including regarding politics and the public image of

social media by parliament members, "social networks" (also known as "Web 2.0") are a wideranging set of web-based tools that allow individuals to access, participate and interact with third parties (whether being individuals, companies or public-sector entities), when and how

Social networks, or social media, have become systematically part of the Senate's everyday institutional life since 2010, initially as new media for the dissemination of facts and legislative news, but which evolved into interactivity with citizens and society in 2011 and have been increasingly used for corporate communication since 2013, with a more intensified work by the

Founded in 1889, the IPU is the international organization that brings together representatives of parliaments of several sovereign states. Its purpose is to promote inter-parliamentary dialogue on a global level and work for peace and cooperation among peoples from the development of representative institutions [34]. The IPU was founded by William Randall Cremer and Frédéric Passy, who "envisioned an organization where conflicts were resolved through international arbitration." Thus, in order to mediate contacts between parliaments in a multilateral manner, the IPU acts preferentially in the following areas: "representative democracy, human rights and humanitarian law, gender equality,

international trade, education, science and culture" ("União Interparlamentar," In: WIKIPEDIA PT, 2013).

, as published in its guidelines for the use of

2017. In Mexico, there are 56 million, followed by Argentina with 21.7 million [32].

used for internal campaigns, within organizations [30].

and the United Kingdom (59 million) [31].

62 Selected Issues in Global Health Communications

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)<sup>1</sup>

2.4. The institutional social media of the Brazilian Senate

institutions.

they wish [34].

1

2.3. Social media: the new frontier for health communication


The information produced by the Senate has been reaching an increasingly higher number of people through social networks. In January 2016, the homepage on Facebook had 240,000 followers. In April 2017, it reached 1.7 million, a growth of almost 600% in the period.

The growth in the number of people reached by the messages is also high. In the same period, Facebook posts were shared 4.6 million times, received 15.5 million likes and generated 23.6 million comments. In recent months, the Senate's profile on Facebook has been the one with the world's largest engagement records among government websites, surpassing that of NASA and the White House, according to Quintly (www.quintly.com), a social media analysis site. The Quintly ranking considers the total number of followers of the Facebook profile and the number of people interacting with the posts, which is measured by the number of shares, likes and comments. The position in the ranking changes constantly, since it depends on the daily activity of the pages [54].

The Senate's social networks, as a whole, now have more than 3.5 million followers among Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and are commonly referred to as benchmarks by other public institutions [39].

#### 2.5. Social marketing programs of the Brazilian Senate

In 1997, the Senate created its Special Projects SubSecretariat—nowadays called Coordination of Advertising and Marketing—which was founded with the purpose of paying particular attention to promotional and institutional activities of the Senate. This new service, part of the Secretariat of Social Communication, would dedicate time and efforts to the institutional marketing of all areas of the Senate. With the mission of planning and developing internal and external campaigns, this sector was created to organize and take over dispersed tasks as well as the advertising creation of audiovisual products that were scattered throughout the legislative house [35]. In social media, advertising campaigns are disseminated primarily on institutional profiles in Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter networks. These campaigns can be divided into "institutional," "public utility" and "corporate," according to their main purpose. From 2015 on, the General Director of the Senate has gathered a small group of staff who responds directly to her in order to get a closer coordination of the internal communication initiatives, and that was the case of the Pink October 2017 edition.

the stigma that breast cancer is incurable. A well-informed woman can remain alert to her body and is more likely to discover an early-stage nodule with full healing possibilities [41].

Social Marketing and Health Communication: A Case Study at the Brazilian Federal Senate

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78126

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An initial briefing took place in March 2017, in which the General Director of the Senate presented the initial ideas on the possibility of deepening and expanding the activities of the Pink October, traditionally carried out every year, aiming to extend the benefits to the outsourced employees of the Federal Senate. At the meeting, two mastologists from the Federal Senate, Doctor Daniele Carvalho Calvano Mendes and Doctor Martinho Cândido de Albuquerque dos Santos, constructively shared views and ideas consistent with the Director-General's initiative of deciding to offer breast cancer exams—mammograms—over the public health services network to outsourced employees. In order to achieve this goal, the Directors of the Senate contacted the Health Secretary of the Federal District Government and consolidated

the partnership, without any direct costs for this economically disadvantaged public.

whose scope is relevant in terms of reaching out to the public.

Contacts were also made with the Internal Communication team of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Senate, so that a wide dissemination network could be formed. In a technical meeting with the area, other Secretariat teams were convened, so that an internal communication effort could be made in order to have available all the communication means of the institution, such as social media, web portal, newspaper, TV and radio of the Federal Senate,

The Department of Quality of Life at Work has been assigned as well to collaborate in the

In the case of the Pink October, the brand development for such an endobranding initiative has been created by an art director who works for the General Director staff, Mr. Thomas Cortes, responsible for creating other internal campaigns as well. The brand shows the silhouette of the National Congress (Federal Senate + House of Representatives) inside a rose (Figure 1).

3.1. Planning

process.

Figure 1. Pink October brand.
