In 2020, there were an estimated 3.8 billion social media users worldwide. Social media platforms engage users in multidirectional communication and provide public health programs with a tool to inform and engage diverse audiences, as well as monitor opinions and behaviors on health topics. This presentation details the process used by USAID-funded Breakthrough RESEARCH to apply social media monitoring and social listening techniques in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Togo and Nigeria for formative research, adaptive management and evaluation, and how lessons learned can be used to support future social behavior change (SBC) programs. The process involved six steps: 1) Ensure sufficient volume of topic-specific online conversation in target countries; 2) Develop measures to monitor SBC campaigns'; 3) Identify search terms to assess target online conversations; 4) Quantitatively assess target audience demographics, campaign reach, and engagement through social media monitoring; 5) Qualitatively assess audience attitudes, opinions and behaviors through social media listening; and 6) Adapt online SBC programmatic content and engagement based on analysis. Lessons learned include understanding who uses social media in implementation countries and testing relevant social media platforms and their limitations; refining key search terms, considering local variations in language for best results; and systematically introduce designated hashtags across platforms to facilitate conversation monitoring and social listening for new campaigns. 

With the rise in internet and social media penetration alongside the accelerated development of artificial intelligence to enhance rapid data extraction and analysis, these methodologies will become increasingly relevant for SBC research and evaluation. 

According to recent demographic and health surveys in Western and Central Africa (WCA), fertility rates in the region are among the highest in the world, with an average of 5.6 children per woman; the rate of teenage pregnancy is more than twice the world average. Access to and use of modern contraceptive methods remain limited with only 18% of sexually active people using contraceptives. In this context, promoting innovative communication strategies to improve knowledge and behaviors is a priority. "C'est la vie" (CLV) is a unique, 360° entertainment education program led by Réseau Africain de l'Éducation pour la Santé (RAES) and funded by BMGF, AFD and FFM. It revolves around a soap opera focused on reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence, reaching millions of young people across Western and central Africa. The campaign's primary goal is to provide access to a broad range of information on SRHR issues and to orient people towards reproductive health services. Digital is an important component of the campaign for episode dissemination and discussion engagement. The CLV digital ecosystem also facilitates access to user engagement data, serving as a rapid feedback mechanism and allowing for analysis of what works or not for each campaign, which participates in adaptive management. This helps also to measure the impact of online activities.

Around the world, and particularly in low- and middle-income countries, conservative norms often prevent open conversations about puberty, sex, and family planning (FP). Merci Mon Héros (MMH), a regional multimedia campaign supported by the USAID-funded Breakthrough ACTION (BA) project, aims to reduce the impact of such norms and increase informed, voluntary FP access for youth in francophone Africa. BA leverages digital platforms to coordinate, implement, monitor, and adaptively manage the MMH campaign. Team members are in constant contact across multiple countries, organizing campaign content and activities. Online, MMH engages audiences on social media, and complements this content with mass media and in-person events to encourage discussion between youth/adolescents and adults about the challenges young people face when seeking information about reproductive health (RH) and FP services. According to MMH studies carried out in Niger and in Côte d'Ivoire, social media ranks among the top three most common exposure channels in both countries, proving "digital" an effective online tool for reaching segments of its intended audiences. Online metrics show the MMH digital audience is mostly male, between the ages of 18-34. This knowledge -- and synthesis of other online analytics -- has informed specific online content and messaging adaptations, and suggests complementary offline channels are needed to reach additional intended audience segments. "Digital" is also proving an effective tool to monitor the impact of community-level campaign activities, testifying to the fact that "new" technologies can be a valuable addition to both SBC implementation and monitoring and evaluation approaches.