Slides from my talk at the 4th Annual Putting Patients First Conference in Mumbai.

1. Nrip Nihalani
Plus91 Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Adding Value to Healthcare
Social Media and Patient Advocacy

2. Social Media and Advocacy
• Social media is not an
activity it's a strategy.
• Social media has
created an army of
readily available brand
advocates.
• Integrates Technology,
Social Interaction and
•
Media
• Social media such as
blogs, social networks are
all about speeding up &
enriching
communication.
Mostly just regular
people who are talking
about the things they
like and in doing so are
influencing their social
circle to also check it
out.

3. SocMed’s Impact on Patient Advocacy
• Advocacy groups have a powerful medium to
reach local individuals
• Thus, work more with individuals online to
effect change in local communities
• SocMed is disrupting the idea of Patient
Advocacy  Patients connecting with each
other – Not just with Brands  Patient
Advocacy beyond Advocacy Groups
• Creation of both Online Patient Advocates as
well as Online Patient Advocacy Communities

4. Online Communities
• Mark Zuckerberg once said “You don’t start
communities…Communities
already exist. They’re
already doing what they
want to do. The question
you should ask is how you
can help them do that
better.”
In Online
Communities
Patients support and
learn from each
other in Volumes 
in Real Time 

5. Some Ideas which Work
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Online Support Groups
Online Coaches
Website/Portal/Library of Useful Information
Digital Animated Superheroes as Advocates
Quiz based Games
Social Dietician
“How To” Video Galleries on YouTube
Blog based Advocacy of Treatments/Preventive
Techniques

6. Examples of Social Media Advocacy
• Type 1 Parent shares experiences of being
parents of a child with type 1 diabetes 
provides simple, straight-forward explanations
to the fundamental aspects of diabetes 
helps parents help their children understand
what is happening to them.
• Diabetic-Diet-Secrets was an on-line
community of people who had well-controlled
diabetes  they helped other people with
diabetes who were newly diagnosed or poorly
controlled

7. Some Patient Advocates on Social Media
•
•
•
•
•
Dave DeBronkart (@ePatientDave)
Regina Holliday (@ReginaHolliday)
Marie Ennis O’Connor (@jbbc)
Kari Ulrich (@FMDGirl)
Virna Elly (@VirnaElly)

8. Thanks for Viewing this Presentation
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