The role of social media in promoting sexual health education should not be underestimated. Especially for educating youth and young adults . Though there are many websites which are doing a fine job of giving relevant information, I feel there is a need for many of these sites to integrate social media with their sites to be even more effective.
The youth of today are addicted to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and the opportunity is there for sexual health educators to increase their presence in these web 2.0 properties and to provide accurate information about their very important subject.
Most young people turn to the Internet to inform themselves of any issues regarding their sexual health and there are a lot of forums which are dedicated to sexual health but unfortunately a lot of these forums are not properly moderated and there are a lot of conflicting opinions which just confuses these young minds even more.
We all need to come to terms today that social networking sites like Faceboo, Orkut etc is where the youngsters are active today, unlike their parents generation where the only way to get information was to talk to their parents, teachers or their immediate friends circle. The anonymity that the internet provides makes it much easier for the youth of today to ask questions which they would be too embarrassed to ask in the real world.
So it is only logical for sexual health educators to embrace the internet, especially social networking sites to promote their message. The youth will be more willing and able to embrace the information provided in the virtual world than they would be in the real world. This is the way of the present and the future and in any case is the most cost effective way to promote healthy sexual habits.
And in the spirit of this article, I would appreciate your help to spread the word by tweeting about it or by liking it on Facebook.