Social Media: What is it, anyway?

Social Media:
What is it, anyway?
Amy Vernon
Hasai Inc.

Disclosure
I have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Learning Objectives
Defining social media.
Social media’s role in the medical community.
Benefits and drawbacks of social media for medical professionals.

Changing How We Communicate
IMMEDIACY: “I tweeted and no one answered.”
INTIMACY: “Someone with XYZ Corp. personally responded!”
ATTENTION: “I just ran a 5K for the first time!”

Everybody’s Doing It
87% of physicians use social media personally
67% of physicians use social media professionally
1/3 of doctors received Facebook friend requests from patients
¾ of those doctors rejected the requests
Source: QuantiaMD survey, August 2011

Source: QuantiaMD survey

The Value for Patients
Doctors find value for patients. “Would you recommend that apatient participate in anonline patient community?”

Very social, but not with patients

If everyone’s doing it, why aren’t you?

Ah, liability
The cardinal rule of social media: Don’t be stupid. I.E.: Don’t say anything online you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to know.
Rhode Island doctor reprimanded after inadvertently identifying a patient in a Facebook post.
JAMA study identified 3% of physician tweets as containing “unprofessional content”
Sources: Amednews.com,
Boston.com, News.com.au

Oh, like this?
Source:Twitter.com

Nonmaleficence
Works the same in social media. First, do no harm.
If you think before you post, you should be just fine.

OK, but still, WHY?
People are talking about their medical problems online.
Celebrities talk about their medical experiences & give “advice.”
People listen to celebrities, and while they may be well-meaning, they may have no idea what they’re talking about.

Is this who you want parents to take medical advice from?

How about this guy?

How about Chrissie?

It’s where the patients are
Be available. Offer your expert knowledge in cases where possible.
Don’t diagnose – but offer to suggest resources to look up information.
Don’t respond to the “trolls” – the people whose sole meaning in life is defined by baiting people into arguments online.

?s
Amy Vernon
mail@amyvernon.net
Twitter: http://twitter.com/amyvernon
Facebook: http://facebook.com/amyvernon
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/amyvernon

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Social Media: What is it, anyway?

by Amy Vernon on Oct 04, 2011

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Social Media: What is it, anyway? — Presentation Transcript