FourSquare Offering Rewards for Checking in for STD Check-Ups
Tags: FourSquare, Get Yourself Tested campaign, MTV, social media, STD
FourSquare's "Get Yourself Tested" Badge
While the results of an STD test are generally confidential, the decision to get such a check-up can now be more public. I seriously wonder how many people will choose to take advantage of this new FourSquare “check in” offer, but it’s garnering quite a bit of attention from the media.
According to Yahoo News, FourSquare, the social network that allows members to broadcast their location and activities, has joined forces with MTV in an effort to remove the stigma attached with getting screened for sexually transmitted diseases. Members who “check in” for an STD test during the month of September will receive a special virtual “badge.” According to The Associated Press , the badge is one part of the cable network’s “GYT: Get Yourself Tested” campaign, which also encourages open communication with parents, partners and health care providers. To find your local testing center, click HERE , or text your zip code to GYTNOW (498669) on your cell phone.
More than 19 million new cases of STDs are contracted in the U.S. every year, and half of those cases will occur in people between the ages of 15 and 24. What’s worse, many who have chlamydia, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea, HPV, syphilis, hepatitis B or HIV don’t even know it. All STDs are treatable and many are curable, but the key is to get tested.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV as a matter of routine health care. Anyone who has had unprotected sex, or who has injected drugs, or has had a partner who has done either of these things, or whose partner’s other partners may have done these things, may have contracted an STD.