Better Health: Smart Health Commentary Better Health (TM): smart health commentary

Latest Posts

Medical Blogging Then And Now

Shout out to @DanaMLewis for pointing out this post from Mashable entitled, “Why Curation Is Just As Important As Creation.” When people are starting out in social media creation, whether it be blogging, or podcasting, or whatever – the phrase always comes up – “Content Is King.” But is content really king anymore?

Now, I certainly wasn’t the first physician blogger, but I would probably consider myself “in those early days.” I mean, starting in 2006 was a few years ago. Back then, writing every single day was imperative. And, the way that you were judged were the amount of comments that you received. I mean, this was in the days before facebook and twitter, when the comment section of the blog was the only way to give feedback publically.

Back then, the way to make a name for yourself was to have the home base of the blog, and that’s how people knew you. Now, with so much content out there, people are overwhelmed and just cannot read everything that they want to read. I definitely can relate to this.

Now, many people are becoming “internet famous” by just sharing through their twitter or facebook stream – the items which they think are important. Maybe, sometimes, not even creating a bit of content on their own. Does this make them a second class citizen in the social media world – not anymore.

I agree with the assertion that being the “information maven”  – meaning evaluating social media information – meaning being a curator – instead of a social media creator – this will be very important in the days ahead. Am I wrong, let me know in the comments below – or on twitter, or on facebook, or other social media way…

*This blog post was originally published at Family Medicine Rocks Blog - Mike Sevilla, MD*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

Read more »

How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

Read more »

See all interviews »

Latest Cartoon

See all cartoons »

Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

Read more »

The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

Read more »

Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

Read more »

See all book reviews »

Commented - Most Popular Articles