2. Why bother?
• Facebook: more than a billion users
• Twitter: 288 million active monthly users
(fastest growing social network in the
world)
• YouTube: 4 billion daily views, an hour of
video uploaded every second
2
3. Meaning: it’s where the patients are
• Pew Internet study: 80% of those who use the
Internet look up health information online
• 35% of those who go online looking for
health information are trying to make a
diagnosis for themselves or someone else
• Of those ―online diagnosers,‖ only about
half go to a doctor
3
12. Facebook
• You can create a page for your practice, or
yourself (as a ―fan page‖)
• When people ―like‖ your page, your posts
automatically go to their page
• You can post, people can comment
• Do your own posts, and also provide links
• Use pictures! More
interesting, encourages clicks
12
13. YouTube
• Videos as teaching tools
• Create a channel
– Can use it for linking videos to other places
• You don’t have to create your own videos—there
are plenty out there
• Creating video is easier than you think
– Flipcam, iPhone
– Keep it brief (less than 3 min-90 sec better)
– Top-level points
13
14. Twitter
• Limited to 140 characters—so short bits of
information
• ―Information accelerator‖—use of links is
key
• Great for sending out information of all
kinds
• Great way to connect with people
14
15. LinkedIn
• Excellent for networking
• Learning opportunities
• Less about connecting with patients—but
a great way to find out ways to connect,
and meet people who are doing what you
want to do.
15
16. Practice website
• Becoming standard
• Central repository of information
– Practice information
– Clinical information
• Can be an advertisement for your practice
• Can make care more efficient
• Can be a place for blogging
16
18. Why blog?
• A way to communicate with people about issues
and topics you care about, or want people to
learn about
• Allows you to react to studies and news and put
the ―spin‖ on them that you think is best
• Helps create/support your online reputation
• Can attract patients
• Good writing is helpful—but it doesn’t have to be
perfect
18
19. Caveats
• You need to blog regularly.
– Consider guest blogging, or being in a rotation
• You need a platform
– Practice website? Your own blog?
• You need to write effectively
– Low (7th grade) reading level
– Short sentences
– Brief (500-900 words)
– Engaging, casual
19
20. What is the problem you want to solve with
social media?
• Attracting patients
• Connecting with patients
• Networking/looking for work
• Educating patients
• Educating yourself
• Advocacy
• All of the above?
20
21. Getting started
• WATCH
• See what other people are doing
• Find good websites
– Practice websites to emulate
– Websites with good health information
• Get a sense of different modalities
• Read blogs
21
22. Important social media concepts
• Messaging
• Engagement
• Commitment
• Responsibility
22
23. Messaging
• Brief! People have attention spans of
gnats.
• Distilled. What is the most important take-
home?
• Reading level: keep it low (5th-7th grade)
• Attention-grabbing (whenever possible)
• Use graphics/videos
23
24. Engagement
• If nobody reads your
content, it isn’t useful
• Social media is all
about engagement—
think about this as you
create or share content
• What will people
respond to? (Literally)
24
25. Social media (and life) is like a sandbox
• It’s not all about
you
• Play nice
• If you want people
to share your
content, share
theirs
25
26. Commitment
• You get out what you put in
• Refreshed content Engagement
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew
• Time issues
• Someone to manage?
26
28. Small is okay
• But…keep expectations low
• Choose modalities well
– Twitter better for intermittent content
– Facebook and blogs look silly if not updated
• Consider:
– Commenting on others’ blogs
– Doing guest blogs
28
29. Responsibility = Privacy and Respect
• HIPPA—easy to comply with
• But really, more than HIPPA. Higher
standard—don’t want patients to be able
to identify themselves or others at all.
• What is your intent?
29
30. Responsibility = Patient Safety
• Don’t give specific medical advice online
• Make sure patients know not to leave
urgent medical concerns on site
• Watch your feeds and comments!
30
31. Responsibility = Professionalism
• Whether we like it or not, doctors are held
to a different standard
• Comments (and pictures) can be taken out
of context
• Anything that goes online stays there
• Can’t separate personal and professional
(sorry)
31
32. But let’s put this in context…
• Wendy Sue Swanson: ―We are way worse
in elevators than we are online.‖
These aren’t reasons to avoid social media.
They are simply ways to use it responsibly.
32