We sent our first tweet in on August, 2008 from the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Four years and 3,265 tweets later, we are gearing up for yet another International AIDS Conference. At this year’s conference, we will be hosting a satellite session titled “The State of New Media and HIV.” During the session, panelists will reinforce the reasons why it is essential to assess how new media can extend the reach of your work. Together, we will call for a declaration for the HIV community to use new media to move us towards an AIDS-free generation.

We’ve been working with a planning committee of representatives from the Gay Men’s Health CrisisExit Disclaimer; ISIS, Inc; POZ MagazineExit Disclaimer, and the San Francisco AIDS FoundationExit Disclaimerto develop an agenda that will demonstrate how HIV/AIDS organizations can and are using social media and other emerging technologies to extend the reach of their programs

Todd Park, White House Chief Technology Officer, will moderate the session. Participants will hear from a panel of speakers on new media and HIV research, policies, and programs aimed at preventing and treating HIV. Confirmed speakers include Oriol Gutierrez, Deputy Editor of POZ MagazineExit Disclaimer; (an official AIDS 2012 media sponsor); Ingrid Floyd, Executive Director of Iris HouseExit Disclaimer; Venton Jones, Communications and Education manager of the National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy CoalitionExit Disclaimer; and Susannah Fox, Associate Director of Digital Strategy at the Pew Internet & American Life ProjectExit Disclaimer. Susannah will discuss the Pew Internet Project's latest data on social media use in the U.S. We’ll be announcing additional speakers in the next few weeks.

To help us get ready, the National Minority AIDS CouncilExit Disclaimer has developed a survey to better understand how the HIV community is using new media. Whether your organization has a social media presence or not, your input is important! Please take a few minutes to respondExit Disclaimer to Exit Disclaimerthe Exit DisclaimersurveyExit Disclaimer .

New media has come a long way in the HIV community! If you are planning to attend the conference, we hope you will join us. And if you’re not able to attend in person, we encourage you to use new media tools to let us know how you’re using new media to extend the reach of your programs. Ask us questions and participate in the discussion leading up to and during the satellite session. We’ll be using the hashtags #AIDS2012 and #newmediaHIV.