Part I of pharmaphorum’s interview with James Musick. He discussed his role of heading up social media at Genentech, the similarities between software engineering and drug development. James continues his conversation discussing his thoughts on how social media can best be utilized.

1. NPT | The Community of Big Thinkers
Rebecca Aris Interviews - James Musick, PART II - multi-industryMULTI-INDUSTRY
Rebecca Aris Interviews
James Musick
PART II
Interview Summary
RA: How do you think other smaller emerging biotechs could
use social media to connect with both healthcare stakeholders
and possible investors?
JM: What’s great about social media is because of its size,
reach, and complexity, it allows one to find specific niche
audiences, so it’s almost a paradox, and you have access to
a large system whereby you are able to find small subsets
of audiences that you’re not going to be able to find in
other ways.
For a small emerging biotechnology they need to have
a good understanding of their audience, what technical,
scientific and patient audiences they are interested in
engaging with, who their possible stakeholders are, and
to not treat all the social media channels as the same. A
common mistake I see is that large companies, not only in
biotechnology,but across the globe,assume that Facebook
and Twitter are this huge multi million-user hydra
monster, and don’t take the time to discover that there
are very intelligent, inquisitive people who are interested
in specific areas and complex stories. You don’t need to
dumb down what you’re saying, and you don’t need to
turn down the level of rigour on your science, or what
you’re talking about, because the point of these channels
is that you’re going to be able to reach the audience that
message actually resonates with or you want to have that
conversation with.
RA: Obviously Genentech is a member of the Roche group,
so how much input does Roche have in your social media
activities?
JM: We collaborate with our global counterparts if not
daily, then certainly weekly, and in terms of the input and
influence, the Roche-Genentech merger happened at a
Last week we brought you Part I of pharmaphorum’s interview with James Musick. He discussed his role of
heading up social media at Genentech, the similarities between software engineering and drug development,
and the recent success that they have found by using YouTube.
Today James continues his conversation with Rebecca Aris, discussing his thoughts on how social media can
best be utilized, how he plans to convey complex concepts in 140 characters or less, and what social media
initiatives Genentech has planned over the next year. Here’s how the conversation concluded:
very fortuitous time from a social media perspective. As all the
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies were starting to use
social channels, so were we. All of a sudden we went from having
a team focused in the US, to being connected with a global team
that was experiencing many of the same issues but in a global
context and together we were able to work on developing great
social media guidelines.
RA:Because of the nature of Genentech’s work,you’re dealing with some
pretty complex diseases and targeted therapies. How have you managed
to convey these highly technical areas through social media channels?
JM: Well that’s definitely a challenge, and we obviously don’t try
to tell the whole complex story in 140 characters. However in
these cases, like I mentioned before, it’s important not to dumb
down the science.Instead,we use social media for reach,targeting,
aggregation and refinement, highlighting some of the amazing
work that’s being done in genetics, epigenetic, biotechnologies,
pharmaceuticals and bringing to light areas where the entire
industry is moving forward.
RA: Many pharma companies are still reluctant to get too heavily
involved in social media due to fear of breach in regulations and legal
issues around two-way online communications.Given your experience,
what key advice would you give them?
JM: The concerns are very reasonable; however, one thing that is
sometimes overlooked is that the regulations are there for a good
reason. If you take time to become close with your counterparts
in legal and regulatory from the start, you’re usually able to find
a way where you can communicate or engage without breaching
those regulations.
RA: Finally, can you tell us anything about what Genentech has in
store for its social media initiatives over the next 12 months?
JM: Certainly – there are a couple of things I’m really enthusiastic
about. One I alluded to earlier, as I think this is going to be a great
year for Genentech and YouTube. We’re building on the great
success we had last year; our team has come up with a new set of
eight to 10 videos across a wide range of topics related to scientific
innovation done in creative ways which will help people better
understand some of the cutting edge science that is happening
and how it connects to amazing new medicines for patients.
The other thing I’m excited about is a social engagement
experience we did at this year’s TED conference. It was a huge
hit, with over 1,100 people turning their genes into music over the
course of 4 days. Using a combination of digital and social media,
we started a conversation with participants about recent leaps
in biotechnology, and left them with a unique and personalized
reminder of their experience. Now we’re looking to leverage this
work in a broader social context to help science communicators
and educators, so it will be interesting to see how it scales for a
larger population.
Rebecca Aris is the Managing Editor of pharmaphorum. Tweet her
@Rebecca_Aris
“If you take time to become close
with your counterparts in legal and
regulatory from the start, you’re
usually able to find a way where you
can communicate or engage without
breaching those regulations...”
About the interviewee:
James Musick is an interactive digital media strategist, focusing on the convergence of social and mobile technologies. As the Director of
Social Media & Web Communications at Genentech, Musick integrates strategic business value with user experience and adoption through the
development of mobile, social, and interactive initiatives.
His background includes a doctorate in neurophysiology from the University of Washington. There his creation of neural behavior computer
models sparked an interest, and then a career, in software engineering and architecture in the fledgling social/knowledge management/
collaboration software space. Musick complemented his enterprise software experience with work in corporate IT strategy and then as a strategy
director for a digital agency.
Founded over 35 years ago, Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that markets itself as a research-driven corporation that discovers,
develops, manufactures and commercialises medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Genentech has been
a member of the Roche Group since 2009.
Republished with the kind permission of www.pharmaphorum.com -
follow @pharmaphorum on Twitter for the latest articlesbloomua / Shutterstock.com
Want to talk about the latest industry issues? Join the discussion forum. July 2012