Our September 11 #LCSM Chat on Twitter (at 8 PM ET, 5 PM PT) will be an opportunity to brainstorm, coordinate and plan social media activities for 2014 Lung Cancer Awareness Month in November. The chat will be moderated by Janet Freeman-Daily.

In November 2013, the #LCSM community promoted lung cancer awareness using the hashtag #LCAM on Twitter. Each day of the month, we tweeted a different factoid or call to action related to lung cancer. Others retweeted those facts and posted them on social media sites like Facebook. You can find a list of those tweets and links to the sources of the factoids on the Lung Cancer Facts page on this site. Over 8500 tweets included the hashtag #LCAM in November 2013– not bad, given that the first #LCSM Chat occurred less than four months earlier on July 25, 2013.

This year, we want to extend the reach of LCAM by engaging lung cancer bloggers and all social media sites as well as Twitter Twitter. We will use the hashtag #LCAM14 in all tweets related to Lung Cancer Awareness Month this year. (This hashtag has been registered with Symplur so we can track the impact our campaign is having on Twitter.)

#LCSM is networking with other lung cancer organizations to create a social media awareness campaign with an even broader reach, one that will motivate people to take specific actions in the fight against lung cancer. We will be brainstorming that campaign in the September 11 #LCSM Chat. Members of several lung cancer advocacy organizations plan to participate.

Listed below are some #LCAM14 ideas we will discuss. Feel free to suggest others during the chat!

#WhipLungCancer Videos
You may have noticed the #WhipLungCancer video campaign (started by @LungCancerFaces Deana Hendrickson) on social media over the past week. You can find several videos created by patients and advocates by searching Twitter and Facebook for the #WhipLungCancer hashtag. Note what these videos have in common: they share facts about lung cancer, suggest a place to donate of the author’s choosing, and use whipped cream in fun ways. Be creative!

LUNGCAN Activities
LUNGCAN (Lung Cancer Action Network) is a group of 19 lung cancer advocacy organizations. This year they are launching a collaborative effort for Lung Cancer Awareness Month with three planned phases:

Phase 1 (tentatively Oct 6-Nov 10). Encourage people to provide input to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in support of lung cancer screening with low-dose CT scans (LDCT). The last day for providing input to CMS is November 10. LUNGCAN is building a web page on its site with info on how to take action.

Phase 2 (Nov 10- 23). Encourage people to participate in “The Lung Cancer Project” . This Genentech-sponsored online survey captures subconscious perceptions of lung cancer stigma; read more here. LUNGCAN particularly hopes to attract more healthcare providers as survey participants.

Phase 3 (Nov 24-31). Promote radon awareness and encourage people to acquire a radon test kit to use in their home.

Topic Questions During Chat

We look forward to seeing you in the chat! To participate in the chat, remember to include #LCSM in all your tweets, or use a tweetchat tool like tchat.io with that hashtag (more on that here). We will be discussing these four topics:

T1: What social media activities could best support LUNGCAN’s plan for #LCAM14?

T2: In what other ways might the #LCSM community use social media to promote lung cancer awareness during #LCAM14?

T3: How might #LCSM Chat website assist with #LCAM14 social media activities for the #lungcancer community?

T4: Wrap up: What social media action(s) will you personally commit to take during #LCAM14?