Wintry mix Thursday night, another storm Friday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

About two years ago, Mark David Hurty received a tweet that did not make sense. Then he got another, and another. They kept coming.


 
He found that he was being cited as an authority about 

, and policy issues around the Affordable Care Act. None of those was his area of expertise.

 
 
Whenever he goes online, Hurty stumbles upon messages like these, directed at him. He finds the tweets no longer confusing, but entertaining. 

 
Hurty lives in California and builds software for a nonprofit educational organization. He created his Twitter account in 2007, while working for a music publishing website in Illinois. 

 
He has a Twitter username that's short and easy to remember. But here's the catch: His initials, and his Twitter handle, are MDH, for Mark David Hurty. Many people think those letters stand for Minnesota Department of Health.
 
 


 
 
 
When people confuse him with the Health Department, Hurty responds with a lighthearted note. Sometimes he uses smiley faces. He tells people he's not releasing a new report and he doesn't have the "tools or data to create weekly flu reports." He tells them that they should credit the Minnesota Department of Health for its services to the community.

 
In late June, a WCCO journalist tweeted that a colleague would have "a look at problems with @mdh marijuana program." Hurty received a notification on his phone.

 
"I assure you, there's nothing wrong with my marijuana program," he replied. 

 
People who send him Twitter messages are mostly researchers, nurses, journalists or patients. Sometimes, when users discover their mistake, they stick around. They follow Hurty out of curiosity.

 
Hurty said the Health Department has not reached out to him to see if he would change his Twitter handle. He said he won't hand it over, even if MDH asks him to.

 
"It's kind of nice to have a short three-letter Twitter account," Hurty said. "I'm kind of attached to mine."

Health

Mukhtar M. Ibrahim

Author

The Twitterverse thinks Mark David Hurty knows all about Minnesota's medical condition. He really doesn't.

@MDH has no opinion on #MNhealth

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox