Dr. Anthony Fauci closes distance with social media generation
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been advising Americans on issues of everyday health since the administration of late President Ronald Reagan.
In the White House spotlight this month, he has admonished people to take the spread of coronavirus seriously. But lately he's also reached out to audiences that might not watch daily news conferences on cable: the social media generation.
After appearing on Instagram with NBA player Steph Curry this week and being interviewed last week by Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, Fauci has been on a virtual tour of four popular YouTube channels.
"If Fauci is determined to get out best possible information, YouTube lends itself to being the best platform," said David Craig, a communications professor at the University of Southern California, and co-author of the book "Social Media Entertainment."
The video site has the bandwidth and attention span to let the doctor ramble on about coronavirus vaccines (they could take a year to 18 months to develop), shaking hands (it might never come back as a custom), and whether viruses thrive in colder weather (they do).
On Thursday, Lilly Singh, host of NBC's "A Little Late with Lilly Singh," posted her interview with him on YouTube .
She went through the usual questions about how the virus spreads (Fauci seemed most concerned with proximity and contact with others) and how it compares to the flu (he said it's 10 times as deadly), but the Q&A session also had levity.
"So I should tell my mom turmeric and ginger are not curing this virus?" Singh said.
"You can tell her that your herbs are not curing the virus," Fauci responded.
Fauci's four interviews with YouTube creators have taken place over the last week, with the last, hosted by social media star Dr. Mike Varshavski, which was posted Sunday morning.
YouTube says the idea to bring Fauci to some new, younger eyeballs was its own. NBC News asked the National Institutes of Health about the doctor's social media strategy but did not receive an immediate response.
"We reached out to Dr. Fauci's team and he was keen to connect with this group of creators known for their engaged YouTube audiences as an effort to share factual, authoritative information with a younger audience," said Malik Ducard, YouTube's vice president for learning and impact, in a statement.
He said the YouTube channels of the hosts, including Trevor Noah of "The Daily Show" and online video personality Philip DeFranco, reach more than 33 million people.
The virtual tour came at a time when scientists have been battling false information online about the virus.
"It’s causing a lot of anxiety, fear and confusion," Singh said during her video chat with Fauci.
The doctor's time spent spreading the word on social media was wise, USC's Craig said. With a combined audience of more than four billion, YouTube and Facebook alone reach more than half the world's population.
"When we’re talking about the scale and breadth and diversity, they mirror half of the human race," he said. "I’m just grateful Fauci agreed to YouTube’s efforts."
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I watched the Zuckerberg interview. He gave a lot of good information, and Zuckerberg was a good interviewer.
I'm glad we've got Fauci on our side. He's smart, engaged, realistic, and relatable.
We have him on our side too. It's a unique position to be in!
Of course you do. Why would you assume I meant otherwise?
Maybe from the instant response contained in post #1.1. That comment assumes what you meant, didn't it? Sadly such a comment got 7 votes. They certainly thought they knew what "our side" meant!
I am glad you clarified. You meant all citizens, right?
Of course I did. For that matter, I meant all inhabitants of the planet. I'm even glad Trump has Fauci on his side, and only wish he would let his star player run the game here, and keep the focus on keeping Americans as healthy as possible, without reference to ratings, governors who haven't kiss his ass, etc. He childishly politicizes that which should not be politicized, then gets upset that people recognize he's playing politics, in the most petty way imaginable.
I think it's very sad that you insist on defining "our for me, blaming me for the fact that you excluded yourself from the "our", and then vilified me across several threads because of your misperception.
Poor form, Vic.
Good girl.
So you and I agree.
We are both glad that the President chose Dr Fauci AND Dr Birx.
Well done Dr. Fasci and also kudos to Facebook et al.
Yes sir, well done!
I've been keeping track of Fox from time to time these days. They have had to evolve their message of late. Considering their viewership is on average greater in age, much of their previous message in playing down the virus was detrimental to a large portion of their viewers. Even science seems to be breaking through the noise there at Fox. Breitbart is still a hopeless dumpster fire of lies and misinformation.
it must be difficult for foxtard execs to spin the endless 180's POS/POTUS does on a daily basis now
I'd be testing that theory daily, but I have a random coming up to keep my fed security clearance. color me pissed off if it gets postponed due to the trumpdemic.
Beware the pedantic BS of experts. Dr. Fauci is hiding behind highly technical language to convey information that often misinforms.
Of course herbs aren't curing COVID-19. There is no cure and will never be a cure. There isn't a cure for influenza, either. The available treatments for influenza either prevent symptoms or lessen symptoms. Dr. Fauci makes a pedantic statement about a 'cure' but doesn't address whether or not herbs (or any other medication) lessen the severity of symptoms. Dr. Fauci dodged the question.
Dr. Fauci's estimates of cases and deaths are based upon what is happening in Europe. As of March 30, Europe has reported 388,000 cases of COVID-19 infection. The experts aren't acknowledging that information; the experts are obfuscating what is really happening by hiding behind the open borders of European countries. What is happening in Italy is bad; what is happening in Europe is frightening. Italy is in the position of being the New York of Europe.
Don't simply accept the folksy commentary of experts at face value. Experts are adept at spreading misinformation using pedantic obfuscation.
Oh, but our semi educated elite just love that!
He’s doing great work for the country.