ATLANTA – When it comes to reaching the public with important health messages, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  has found it's best to go to the people – not wait for them to come to you.

According to Scott Mullins, technical team leader for the CDC's Division of eHealth Marketing, government officials are grappling with ways to best provide outreach in the changing landscape of America's technological world.

"Our overriding consideration with social media is that people want and need information in the context of their experience on the internet. We can't expect everybody to come to the CDC website for us to get our guidance out," he said.

According to Mullins, the average healthcare consumer is becoming more sophisticated. There are more expert consumers, or "prosumers," and people managing their own healthcare who go to a variety of sites for their information.

The CDC wants to provide information in the format consumers are using online. "The information flows from our Web sites out onto these other websites," Mullins said. "We're very much approaching it that way."

Mullins said the CDC is the first federal healthcare agency to use social media, and that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Environmental Protection Agency are already using it. The Department of Health and Human Services will partner with the CDC to explore possibilities for its use.