#NursingNowEngland: Use the # and Be Counted!

The Nursing Now England campaign was launched earlier this week. You can read my colleague Bev's post to find out more about what happened during the launch event.

Nursing Now England aims to raise the status and profile of nursing. The launch was surrounded by a buzz from nurses on social media: the pride in their profession, and excitement at the potential of the campaign was palpable.

The #NursingNowEngland hashtag achieved an incredible 10 million impressions in just 24 hours, which shows how much passion and enthusiasm there is for the campaign - it's brilliant.

While 10 million impressions in 24 hours is brilliant, it doesn't reflect the whole picture. Many nurses are actively tweeting about the campaign, but unfortunately don't always include the hashtag, which means they're not included in the figures.

The image below (from Symplur) shows the people who have been the most influential using #NursingNowEngland during this week. We know there are many more nurses tweeting about the campaign, and don't always remember to include the hashtag. 

Why does this matter?

A range of people gave inspiring speeches during the launch. A common theme throughout many of the presentations was a call to action for nurses to work together and use their voices for positive change. By working together, transform the perceptions of the profession, and nurses can increase their influence with policymakers.

A quote that particularly stood out for me was the call to be a badass like Florence Nightingale. The Lady With the Lamp was of course the founder of modern nursing - she also understood the importance of data and evidence to back up her cases for change.

Social media is an incredibly useful tool for creating change. Used effectively, it has the potential to help people share ideas, and learn from one another. It can bridge networks, and communities. 

It can help to shape a social movement that creates meaningful, sustainable change - in England, and that ripples out across the rest of the world.

Social media data helps to demonstrate the size of the community; measure the reach of the campaign; identify the key influencers.

In short, social media data is crucial evidence for showing your influence as a community. It is a way of demonstrating the success of your campaign, and of showing policy makers that you mean business.

So stand up and be counted. Make sure your voice is heard. Make sure your voice counts.

History may disagree on whether Florence Nightingale invented the pie chart or simply made it popular, but either way she understood the power of data and evidence. Take inspiration from her love of data and evidence. 

Make sure you add the hashtag! 

You can also make your voice heard by signing up as a Nursing Now England Ambassador.

Further reading:

10 Tips for Social Media Success