When the Salt Lake Valley public health department wants to tell residents about important developments regarding swine flu, food inspections or tips for expecting mothers, it no longer has to rely on traditional media.

Instead, it plunks down a pithy 140-character note on Twitter, the popular social networking application.

“The main thing that we’ve found is that using these social media tools, we’re able to interact with the public on a completely different playing field. People are really comfortable tweeting us or leaving a message on our Facebook page,” says spokeswoman Kate Lilja, who manages the department’s social media efforts.

Not to be left behind, the Cook County Department of Public Health is gearing up to integrate social networking into its arsenal of communication tools, which includes a newly redesigned Web site. 

At last Friday’s Cook County Health and Hospital System’s board meeting, health department head Dr. Stephen Martin discussed the department’s goals in securing a $400,000 grant from the National Association of County & City Health Officials to beef up its social networking presences, specifically for emergency preparedness.

It’s a safe bet that was the first time Twitter was discussed at a health system board meeting.

Health department spokeswoman Amy Poore says the department is just starting to think about how it might use tools like Twitter and Facebook, and plans to begin experimenting within a month.

“Really, we just know that many public health organizations are using social marketing and social networking tools to a great extent,” Poore says. “It’s a great way to get our your messaging. It’s another way to counter incorrect messages that are out there about public health content.”

Lilja says Salt Lake Valley’s efforts are part of a campaign called “Government 2.0.”

“A lot of people really see this whole concept of Government 2.0 as another means towards more government transparency,  and better interaction with the public, because you’re using this medium where interaction is a key component,” she says.

It also allows for offficials to target messages and information to their citizens, especially during a crisis, such as the swine flu outbreak. Cook County and the Chicago Department of Public Health were only able to communicate to the public through traditional channels.

Lilja says people in Salt Lake County valued the local information her staff was able to provide.

“We immediately got some feedback from the community, saying, ‘Please continue to post updates that are Utah-specific,’” she says.

The grant the county seeks, in tandem with the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago, would help the county shape its public responses to emergencies, Poore says.

But for now, county officials aren’t quite sure how they would use social media, and are still trying to sort out who they'll target on the Internet.

“We could go many ways with it,” Poore says. “We could go to special populations; we could go to a particular area. Or is for the general public?”