July 22nd, 2011 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Opinion
No Comments »
Recently, I had the pleasure of being surrounded by brilliant health care thought leaders. First, I delivered a social media presentation at the Eyeforpharma conference. Secondly, I sat in the audience at the Social Communications and Health Care 2011 conference to listen to others present on social media, and participate in a round-table discussion on social media.
It’s clear from the personal discussion that followed with folks from the pharma industry, medical device companies, and hospitals, that they understand the need for social media (or social networking), but they are cautious to dive in.
A few concerns I’ve heard: “social media can be paralyzing,” “senior leadership in the pharma industry is looking for the FDA to make decisions because it’s such a highly regulated industry,” and “it’s still so new, what’s the ROI?” Concerns are real; however there will always be concerns and questions. Sometimes, the best approach is to just dive right in.
The brilliant reason to dive deep into the social media health space is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
July 14th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in Opinion
No Comments »
This is not a lesson about the limitations of 140-character messages on Twitter.
Rather, it is a warning about careless Tweets that mischaracterize the real meat of the message in longer stories linked to in the Twitter message. As I wrote on Twitter in response to these two episodes, “Better not to Tweet on complex health care topics than to mischaracterize your own story with a misleading 140 characters.”
First, my friend Andrew Holtz caught the fact earlier this week that Men’s Health Magazine tweeted:
If you’re a smoker, you NEED to get a CT scan. Here’s why: http://ow.ly/5x34y
That “here’s why” link took you to a Men’s Health Magazine story, that despite being headlined “The Medical Test Every Smoker Needs,” went on to explain:
Don’t run out and ask for a CT scan, though. More than 96 percent of the positive screens in the study were false positives, which could subject you to unnecessary surgery, cancer treatments, and the complications that come with them. They’re also expensive: A chest CT scan can cost up to several thousands of dollars.
So look at how silly Men’s Health looked on this confusing back-and-forth message:
1. You NEED to get a CT scan.
2. It’s a test “every smoker needs”
3. But don’t run out and ask for one.
Then this morning I caught AARP doing the same thing. They tweeted:
Are you a smoker? CT scan those lungs – they’re proven to cut risk of lung cancer death for 55-plus: http://aarp.us/rdleHu
That links takes you to a story that includes caveats such as the following: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
June 30th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
No Comments »
There’s a temptation to think of Twitter as it once was. As recently as 3 years ago there were very few physicians using Twitter. Early physician adopters enjoyed a tighter experience than today. Everyone followed everyone and actually finding another doctor was cause for celebration. It was a cocktail party – less a tool as much as a place to goof off. It was easier in many respects.
But Twitter seems to be evolving from a curious toy to a more focused space of sharing among the like-minded. I see new docs play out this broader evolution of Twitter: near obsessive early preoccupation gives way to the question of how it can actually work for them. Experimentation with relationships gives way to connections that are more likely to give us what we really need.
We’ve hit a point where many physicians on Twitter are looking beyond the cocktail party. There are simply too many of us. As a consequence of nothing other than our numbers, we’re increasingly divergent. Values, interests, and motivations vary – we gravitate to the like-minded. In some respects Twitter’s evolving practicality is a good thing. But it comes with a cost. I don’t know how and if it can be countered.
As much as Twitter is different now compared to 3 years ago, don’t get used to it. Things never stay the same.
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
June 15th, 2011 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Opinion
1 Comment »
Is it me or has the number of medically related twitter chats just exploded in the past 4-6 weeks or so? In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about the proper and improper use of the twitter hash tag. I mean if more than 50% of the tweet are hash tags, then I gotta problem with it.
Twitter by it’s very nature is whiny. I mean, one of twitter’s first functions back in the day (in my opinion) and one of the first uses of twitter for the newer user is a place to vent. And, people complain, whine, vent about a great variety of stuff. But, not about the number of tweet chats that have been popping up recently?
Maybe I’m crazy, but will twitter ever get to the point when there are too many chats? Probably not. However, something that I have seen in the past few weeks is the selection of what I call the “golden” time of 9pm Eastern Time.
There is probably some solid data out there somewhere, but Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Family Medicine Rocks Blog - Mike Sevilla, MD*
June 9th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
No Comments »
This NCI Cancer Bulletin article on the use of social media at this week’s American Society of Clinical Oncology is worth reading. It showcases how a major medical organization sees social media unfolding at a national meeting. I’ll be following #ASCO11 closely where some sources predict the Tweet count could reach 10-15,000.
What caught my eye was discussion surrounding the speaker-imposed restriction of Twitter at scientific presentations. Apparently some meetings such as the Biology of Genomes Conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, presenters have to grant permission to allow the use of Twitter (this apparently will not be the case at ASCO).
This is a quote from the meeting media policy at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Often, during the course of a meeting, a scientist will present a discovery, method, or current project that is not yet complete or published. Therefore, to prevent the premature release of confidential information, we require all media attendees to obtain permission in advance from the relevant scientist prior to reporting any spoken or printed information gleaned from the meetings. Media attendees are encouraged to approach scientists out-of-session (e.g. during coffee breaks, poster sessions, wine and cheese parties, etc.) for informal discussions, formal interviews, and/or permission to report sensitive information at the appropriate time. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
