Civic News
COVID-19 / Health / Municipal government / Social media

Shoutout to the comms pro running Philly Public Health’s pandemic-time Twitter

Billy Penn profiled Desarae Bradham, who runs the department's social media, in a roundup of 15 folks leading Philadelphia's coronavirus response.

Desarae Bradham. (Photo courtesy of Desarae Bradham via Billy Penn)

Here at Technical.ly, we love a good snarky-yet-informative government Twitter account. (Hey, @NJGov and @PATreasury!)

Billy Penn called out this trend in its roundup of 15 folks leading Philly’s coronavirus response:

“Behind every great institution’s trendy Twitter feed is a person hoping to actually connect with their target audience. At the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, that job belongs to 27-year-old Desarae Bradham.”

Through the @PHLPublicHealth account with 20.8K followers, Bradham shares important info about testing sites, free food and the latest health guidance. It’s where Philly citizens can watch the mayor’s daily public briefings and get the latest infection rates.

That’s not the say it’s all serious, though. And occasionally, her work goes viral:

That Future tweet “was my biggest accomplishment,” she told Billy Penn. “I’m not even lying, because they kept saying how the African American population [was] becoming the most affected, but I feel like the messages weren’t really getting across. And me being young, me being Black, I was like, ‘Alright, there’s a certain way you have to word things.’”

The account also includes other pop culture references …

A generous use of emojis …

Some general tips …

And messages in multiple languages:

Thanks for keeping us informed, and our existential dread at bay, Desarae.

Companies: Billy Penn / City of Philadelphia
Series: Coronavirus
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