Monday, June 15, 2009

An Update on our Social Media Sites!

Social Media Sites are taking the world by storm. They are transforming the way we access and receive news and information and connect and communicate with each other on a daily basis. AAHF has joined many of these new and fast-growing networks in an effort to spread awareness about our organization and to help keep members in the loop on the latest news from the alternative medicine field.

It all started with three simple words, “You’ve got Mail.” We all remember that adorable romantic comedy, where a couple fell in love, *gasp* over the internet! What was thought of as a new and revolutionary way to meet people has now become the norm. Relationships are now being established and built through connections made on social networking sites. Organizations are no longer sending letters and gaining membership through face-to-face interaction, but through “Tweeting with Tweeples.” And although this new way of communication may seem complicated and confusing, these sites are surprisingly simple and are gaining membership at an extremely rapid pace.

The basic concept behind these sites is networking. Sure, Facebook may have started out as a way for college students to express themselves and socialize with their friends online. However, organizations soon realized that those friend networks could be used to spread the word about their campaigns, creating new networks of people working to spread the word about their issues.

AAHF has created accounts for Facebook, Blogspot, Twitter and MySpace and we actively update each site and recruit new friends and followers every day. Our Facebook account, which can be found by searching for friends through E-Mail at office@healthfreedom.org --- has 563 friends and counting. On our profile, we post information about our organization, links to our campaigns, articles and photos and live-streaming updates from our Twitter. We can also send private messages to members and comment on others’ walls.

Our MySpace is another online community that helps us stay connected. MySpace provides users with an extensive profile, allowing us to share everything from what our organization’s goals are to what books and movies we would like to endorse. The site also automatically streams and links to our blog posts, Facebook activity and Twitter “Tweets,” connecting all of our Social Networking Sites easily and accessibly. You can add us by simply searching MySpace for “American Association for Health Freedom.”

Although we have had our blog for quite some time, we are now beginning to post articles twice weekly on the latest alternative health issues. We hope that the topics we choose will spark comments and start conversations and we encourage everyone to subscribe to our blog and voice your opinions there. Our blog site is http://thehealthfreedom.blogspot.com. You can chose to “Follow” our blog by clicking on the Follow button in the top left corner. This will allow you to receive updates whenever we have a new post or someone replies to one of your comments.

Finally, Twitter is currently the newest and most talked about social networking site that we have become involved with. We post server “tweets,” which are short comments that give our followers current information and news. These Tweets include updates on what’s going on in our organization and the alternative medicine community, links to relevant articles and websites, and Q and A between our twitter and another. If you don’t already “Tweet”, we strongly encourage you to join! Twitter is a great way to get information on what you are interested in, straight to your phone and computer. Twitter.com provides you with a short, simple video detailing everything you need to know to get started. To find us on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/healthfreedom and join our 89 plus followers.

AAHF is harnessing the networking power of social media sites, organizing and recruiting members to help gain momentum for our cause. We hope that you will add us as your friend on Facebook and MySpace and follow our tweets and posts on Twitter and Blogspot. As always, we are working for the right of the consumer to choose and the practitioner to practice- and we need your help in spreading the word!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Is Health Care Reform Moving Too Fast?

All this talk about health care reform ... has there been adequate time and transparency to develop a comprehensive workable plan? A matter of this importance which affects every single American needs to be discussed in the public domain. Open the closed-door dealings. Deals are being struck and discussions are being had that the general public is not privy to.

Senator Enzi (R-Wyo) expressed concern over the 'focus that some Democrats have placed on meeting arbitrary deadlines over getting the legislation done right.' The deadline to meet some random politically inspired timeline could cause a glossing over of the details. Are we going to be presented a bill in the 11th hour that will be forced through Congress without time for public comment or perhaps even a thorough review by Congress?