4. OSTEOPOROSIS?
• A silent epidemic
• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over 55 in Europe
will have osteoporosis.
p
• By 2050, the economic burden in Europe stands to
increase from €36 billion to €76.7 billion
• In Europe 24% of women and 33% of men who
Europe,
experience hip fracture due to osteoporosis will die
within one yeard.
• A
Among th e who survive, approximately 40% are
g those h i e pp i tel e
unable to walk independently and up to 80% are
not completely able to perform instrumental
activities of daily living
living.
• One of the biggest fears of people with osteoporosis
is becoming dependent on others
• Despite this, less than 50% take the very medicines
prescribed to lower the likelihood of fracture
5. WHY A COMMUNITY?
• In the Summer of 2009, IOF commissioned a
survey
• Looked at over 1,600 patients and physicians
1 600
worldwide across 13 territories (12 Europe and
Australia)
• In partnership with GFK and local IOF partners to
ensure that the questions were right and reflected
local sensitivities
• The survey said:
e id
– Physicians underestimate patient concerns about
lifestyle, health, dependence, etc
– People with osteoporosis want to be able to get
easy to understand information from trusted
sources about the condition
– ...and over 50% wanted to be able to talk about it
with people like them
6. WHY ONLINE?
(it’s not just online)
• Online made sense as many p p with
y people
osteoporosis have difficulty attending in-person
support group meetings
• ...and over-50s are one of the fastest-growing
and over 50s fastest growing
groups online in Europe
• But we knew that it was important not to solely
focus on the internet
internet...
– It’s not about online ONLY
– It’s also a community-based, in person support
programme
– It’s about using OsteoLink in-person meetings as
a way of helping the older generation get online
and start using OsteoLink
7. OBJECTIVES
• Create a community for people
with osteoporosis, their families
and physicians
• Create an information-sharing
resource
• Develop offline as well as offline
ties
• Ensure patient confidentiality and
security
10. 1. CHOSE PILOT
COUNTRIES
• Sweden, Austria, Germany and Switzerland
• We chose these specific countries due to data we
had on incidence of osteoporosis and internet
penetration in these countries
– Sweden – High incidence of osteoporosis and
high internet usage
– Austria – Low internet usage (wanted to see if it
would work for the pilot)
– Germany – As Austria was a pilot country it made
sense to also pilot in other German speaking
countries
– Switzerland – The International Osteoporosis
Foundation is based in Geneva and strong
interest from patient and professional groups
there
11. 2. DESIGNED THE
SITE
• What did we need it to do?
• When I say design, function came first
• Before we engaged an agency to build it, we had to
it
decide exactly what we needed and what was
superfluous
• Needed to include
– Profiles
– Forums
– Blogs
– Events
– M
Maps
12. 4. WE MADE
CONTENT
• From initial conversation starting forum threads, to
information sections available on-site, to instruction
manuals for users to help them get to grips with the
site (all translated into German and Swedish)
• Developed a really strong engagement strategy that
would work across our pilot countries, mindful of the
audience and the variability in internet comfort
• Supported the creation of national taskforces to
take ownership of in-country implementation
13. 5. GOT PEOPLE
EXCITED
• We made it easy - Created toolkits for local
osteoporosis societies to help them understand
osteolink and spread the word and educate their
membership, including posters, template emails, etc
• We knew that word-of-mouth would be key in
word of mouth
creating this community – so we made sure we gave
all the local societies the tools they needed to help
them get ‘buzz’ going on the ground
buzz
14. ...THEN WE LAUNCHED
• Austria & Germany 1st wave
• ‘Soft’ launch December 2010
• Official launch 18th March 2011
• Results:
– Total of 1 900 unique users across all corners of
1,900
the globe
– Austria: 42% increase in unique users (371) in
the first
th fi t 2 weeks f
k from llaunch; O t Li k viewed
h OsteoLink i d
in 29 cities across Austria
– Sweden: 27% increase in unique users (339) in
the first 2 weeks from launch; OsteoLink viewed
in 54 cities across Sweden
– High consumption of materials and high quality
user experience, with users visiting multiple areas
of the site:
15. ...THEN WE LAUNCHED
• What Are People Doing:
– 45 discussion threads with over 62 comments
– 117 blog posts
– In person meetings being carried out in Austria
In-person
and Sweden
– To date, 108 unique media articles have
focussed on OsteoLink and th survey data
f d O t Li k d the d t
– 13 IOF member societies from 9 countries are
actively engaged in the pilot programme
launched in December 2010.
• Germany and Switzerland are launching soon...
