National Technology Development Co-Ordinator - new role to reflect change in on-line sexual behaviour. NZAF is a community-led initiative to respond to the pandemic. Better treatment means people live longer with the disease so infection rates go up. Also that the disease has dropped off the radar. Social Media can put it back on the radar. After 25 years of the pandemic, new HIV infection rates are increasing at a higher rate than ever. Social Media can get the message - "Put a condom on dick" - can educate people about the physiological aspects of HIV infection and counter the sociological reasons for infection. Social Media also helps to leverage the message into the MSM who do not associate with the gay community/scene. Picking-up on-line often removes the participants' discussing safer-sex and HIV status.
Why Social Media
Can create community - games etc for education. Previously, there was an "expert" in a chatroom who could act as an agony aunt-only changes direct people with whom they interact and had no lasting effect. Social Media hands the issue back to the community to allow them to discuss it. In NZ, there is not a problem with knowledge - we all know we should wear a condom - but we need to focus on condom-use. Also allows community to disclose about condom use to get feedback in the community. There is a danger that the community response you get you will not like.
Current strategy: just let people comment but will ask questions to focus the comments rather than simply comment feely.
Bro Online
Designed so safer-sex info is at the point of "consumption" - the focus is kept very heavily on safer sex.
These SM interventions have not yet been measured. They were instituted in the last year. Also it is difficult to measure whether the change in knowledge will change behaviour. Indeed, it is difficult to measure if changing knowledge can ever change behaviour...
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