Towards a Framework for the Sabido Methodology for Social Media (TSM4SM)

Lessons Learned from Girlsplained, an Entertainment-Education Programme in the United Kingdom

  • Priyanka Rajendram Girlsplained
  • Sabrina Yasmin Rafael Girlsplained
  • Kriss Barker Population Media Center
  • Amy Henderson Riley Jefferson College of Population Health http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7450-762X
Keywords: Sabido, entertainment-education, social media, sexual health, BAME, women, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Sabido Methodology (TSM) is recognised as a discrete methodology of entertainment-education (EE). EE programmes are intentionally designed to entertain and educate through the weaving in of important health and social messaging into powerful storytelling. Sabido-style dramas are highly effective in promoting social and behaviour change around a myriad of issues and its usefulness has been widely documented in long-running serial dramas on traditional media. There is little documentation, however, of how TSM could be applied to newer media, such as social media (SM). Girlsplained was created with the aim of addressing the sexual health of young Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women in the United Kingdom. Key lessons from the effort can be used to build a proposed framework for adapting TSM to SM, i.e., The Sabido Methodology for Social Media (TSM4SM). We hypothesise 4 key features of TSM4SM should include: 1) the major tenets of TSM in a web-based drama with shorter story arcs; 2) the use of humour as per the Laugh Model framework to create a fourth character; 3) the use of transmedia to create a SM feed following the life of the transitional character based on TSM principles; and 4) a target audience of younger people.

Published
2021-06-30
How to Cite
Rajendram, P., Rafael, S., Barker, K., & Riley, A. (2021). Towards a Framework for the Sabido Methodology for Social Media (TSM4SM). The Journal of Development Communication, 32(1), 33-41. Retrieved from https://jdc.journals.unisel.edu.my/index.php/jdc/article/view/191