A blogshot is one image that summarises the results of a Cochrane review. They are useful products to share on social media, because they give a snapshot of the results and try to entice the reader to find out more.

How to create a blogshot
 

Producing blogshots

Cochrane UK have produced a comprehensive guidance document for producing blogshots and a quick checklist for those who regularly produce them. This guidance is consistent with the advice in the dissemination checklist. Key points include:

• Deciding when a Cochrane review is appropriate for a blogshot.
   
• Considering your audience. Who is the blogshot for and what is important for them to know about the review?
   
• Templates for your blogshot. These can be found in the Cochrane community brand resources. Just download the zipped folder containing the templates in your group's colours.
   
• Photos. Photos should be relevant to the review, respectful, adhere to Cochrane brand guidelines, and be correctly positioned. You should also make sure that you have permission to use the photo. For more guidance on choosing and using photos, read our guide on Choosing Images for Sharing Evidence. 
   
• Language and writing. What information is needed in each of the different blogshot sections and using plain language appropriate to your target audience.

Top tip! Once you have a draft of a blogshot, use the dissemination checklist to improve the draft.

More resources for blogshots

• This "dissemination deep-dive" investigates the world of blogshots and includes some useful tips for Cochrane groups.
• This blog is about Cochrane UK's experiences with blogshots.

Vlogshots

‘Vlogshots’ are an extension of blogshots. They are a set of slides presented as a short video, either with or without music and/or commentary. This blog post provides more details about them and how they might be used.

Here are some examples of vlogshots:

• Acupuncture for depression. A Common Mental Disorders Review
• Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation. A Tobacco Addiction Review.
• Systemic pharmacological treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis: a network meta-analysis. A Cochrane Skin Review.

Blogshots in different languages

You can create blogshots in different languages, or you can translate blogshots that have been created by others. Read detailed instructions on how to translate blogshots.

In summary, to translate a blogshot:

• Put your blogshot in a branded template with your Cochrane colours and logo (templates are found in the Cochrane Brand resource page).
   
• Translate the main body of the blogshot, copy the images, and add it both to your template.
   
• Please attribute the group who has produced the blogshot. For example, “This is a translated Cochrane UK blogshot" (following the Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivatives 4.0 International License) in small text at the bottom of the blogshot.

Sharing your blogshot

Once developed, your blogshot is ready to be launched to the world! Options for sharing blogshots include:

• If you manage a Cochrane group website, you can share your blogshot on there.
   
• Blogshots can be shared widely across social media accounts. For more information on social media platforms and how to use them effectively, visit this page.
   
• We suggest you send your blogshot, along with a suggested tweet for dissemination, to the Managing Editor of the Review Group who authored the review.

Evaluating the effect of your blogshot

Evaluating the effect of your blogshot is important to tell whether this is a suitable dissemination product for your audience.

• For blogshots shared through social media, the reach can be assessed using the analytics functions of the social media platform. Some analytics that you can measure include: Twitter impressions, the engagement rate, retweets, likes, replies and the number of URL clicks.
   
• Where a blogshot is shared with a specific audience, asking for some qualitative feedback about how useful the product was for them may be helpful. This will help develop the format and content for future blogshots.

Examples of blogshots from Cochrane Groups

You can find examples of blogshots and vlogshots via this link. This will take you to a webpage where some Cochrane Groups have saved their blogshots. On this site, you can filter the blogshots by review group, collection or language. You can also right click on the image to download it. 

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