Monday Blues?

So I was answering Tod's question to my previous post re: sudden death of Frank Cornish and it got me thinking about, what else? Social Media and how we can use it to help people like Frank.

As you know, I've been experimenting with Twitter, LinkedIn and other tools to figure out how they work and how to pitch media and engage people. One of the things I've learned is that you have to be real -- meaning, if you only write about work-related things people will tune you out; however, if you write about normal stuff with some messaging thrown in they're open to hearing and acting on it.

To that end, I've been creating my Topics To Tweet list, such as:

• When are you most likely to have a heart attack? Mondays. Take the Heart Attack Risk Assessment to start your week off right.
• It's 10 am, do you know your heart risks? Most cardiac events occur in the morning. Know your risks by taking the heart attack risk assessment.
• It's 3pm--when was the last time you left your chair? Step away from the computer and take a few steps for your health. Start Walking.
• Need more time? Start exercising, as it’s been shown that you could gain two hours of life for each hour of regular exercise.
• Friday is National Wear Red Day. Show your true colors and support women fighting heart disease. Shop AHA's sponsor Macy's.
• What's for dinner? Need ideas? Check out AHA's free heart-healthy recipes.

I'm also working on some specific to Advocacy, Mission: Lifeline; research; Scientific Sessions, etc. I'll share them here or, of course, follow me on Twitter and then retweet them. As I mentioned last week, you need to spend some time building your network so that you have listeners when you Tweet. I'm up to 157 followers on Twitter and 185 on LinkedIn (which, according to LinkedIn's calculations connects me to more than 1.2M professionals).

While I was thinking about Topics to Tweet, I stumbled across a recent article in Time Magazine that answers the question: When Are You Most Likely to Have A Heart Attack? I learned how to capture screenshots yesterday, so here's a handy one of the article. Follow the above link to read through the piece.


Stay tuned for a future blog posting about another social media tool I'm excited about: Blip.fm. I've just started playing around with it -- choosing songs with heart (as in, included in the title, artist, album, etc). Not sure if we can link to it from the office but if you try it, I'm DJ StephElsea.

Former Dallas Cowboy Dead at 40

Speaking as a 40 year-old woman who needs to drop some weight and exercise more, the sudden death of Frank Cornish IV is pretty darn sobering. According to news reports, Cornish died in his sleep Friday night due to complications from hypertension.

Hopefully something good will come of Frank Cornish's unexpected death thanks to the quick work of the DFW team. Take a look at the story Claire and Bill helped secure on the CW33.


As ever, this sort of unsettling news is a good reminder of the importance of our work -- and that we (me!) are not only staff but part of the target market.

Addendum: Tod left a good question in the comments section (Thanks, Tod. Glad you asked.). The story drives viewers to the CW33 website "for more information about your heart attack risk." As I suspected, the news site backtracks to the AHA's Heart Attack Risk Assessment Tool.