OrganizedWisdom Health Blog

Physicians Are Encourgaged To Embrace Trend of Online Social Networking For Health

A new article  just out on CMP's ConsultantLive.com, a leading site for primary care physicians highlights the trend of online social networking and features OrganizedWisdom among others who are helping to develop tools and sites to foster these communities.

Online Social Networking Brings Further Change to Doctor-patient Relationships by Sara Selis, Online Associate Editor, CMPMedica USA.

A new generation of healthcare Web sites is connecting patients to each other, allowing them to share information and advice on virtually any medical condition. Despite concerns over some sites' accuracy and credibility, physicians are encouraged to accept, even embrace, the trend.

The Internet has become such a central part of modern life that most physicians are accustomed to patients coming into their offices with thick printouts of information they've found online.

Now, a new generation of healthcare Web sites, following the "social networking" model of sites like MySpace and Facebook, is taking online health content to another level.

These interactive Web sites (see Related Links) -- ranging from efforts by medical societies like the American Cancer Society and the National MS Society, to venture capital-backed startups with names like OrganizedWisdom, DailyStrength and Revolution Health -- not only provide expert medical content, but also connect patients to each other through disease-specific online communities, virtual support groups, real-time Web chats, and other features whereby patients share experiences and advice, and even rate their doctors. Many of the sites feature educational videos and health-assessment quizzes. Others offer an online "personal health record," along with tools that track patients' health goals (such as blood sugar and exercise goals) or send users e-mailed reminders to get recommended health screenings.

As these sites move into the mainstream, they're affecting how patients get health information and advice, how they manage their medical conditions, and how they interact with their doctors.

Click here to read the complete article on ConsultantLive.com.

JupiterResearch: Significant buzz exists around social marketing and consumer-created content in the healthcare industry

JupiterResearch published a new online health report yesterday on the impact of social media in healthcare.

This is an important report because it is the first study that we've seen to assess the importance of "Health Connectors."  Health Connectors, like patient advocates and physician experts, are becoming a powerful and important force in impacting people's health decisions.

The report also answers these questions:

• How many online consumers connect with one another about health issues, and to what extent does this activity threaten or benefit health stakeholders?

• How do health connectors communicate as well as create, consume, and share content, and how does this activity impact marketing strategy?

• How can publishers increase the number and engagement of health connectors?

• Percentage of Online Health Connectors and Share of Online Users Who Looked for Health Information Online

• Types of One-to-One and Social Media Online Users Leverage

• Reasons Online Health Connectors Used the Internet to Connect with Others

• Percentage of Online Users Who Create and Consume Health Content Leveraging One-to-One and Social Media

• Percentage of Online Health Connectors Who Use One-to-One and Social Media in Combination and Exclusively

• Degree of Sources' Influence on Online Users' Decisions to Take Prescription Drugs

• Characteristics of Online Health Connectors, Compared with Average Online Users

• Drivers and Inhibitors of Growth and Engagement of Online Health Connector Audience

• Example of Site Featuring Health Specialists

• Features Encouraging Interaction with Others Online

See OrganizedWisdom Speak at CBI's 6th Annual eMarketing for the Pharmaceutical Industry Conference in March

We would like to personally invite you to see Steven Krein, CEO of OrganizedWisdom, speak at The Center for Business Intelligence's 6th Annual eMarketing for the Pharmaceutical Industry Conference convening this year in Philadelphia, PA from March 7-9.

As social media and online health communities continue to evolve, it is essential that pharmaceutical companies continue to learn how to safely, responsibly and transparently join the conversation online and help bridge the divide that has been widening between patients, physicians and pharma for years.  Learning how social media can help all of these groups work together is the first step to solving these challenges.

Extended ScribeMedia Video Interview About OrganizedWisdom

Peter Cervieri from ScribeMedia interviews OrganizedWisdom CEO and co-founder Steven Krein about social media in healthcare and how OrganizedWisdom.com is working to help people transform their health experience into wisdom. (This is an extended interview that runs about 30 minutes).

Web 2.0 Pharma Podcast with John Mack

Yesterday we participated in John Mack's Pharma Marketing Talk podcast which focused on the topic of Web 2.0 for Pharma.

Click here to listen to the complete podcast.

There are some minor technical issues at the beginning of the interview, but Unity Stoakes joined the discussion about 20 minutes into the conversation to speak about OrganizedWisdom's approach to Health 2.0, the benefits of social networking in healthcare, and discuss some of the progress we are seeing as pharma takes new steps to integrate social media into their education and marketing strategies. Other guests on the show included Dmitriy Kruglyak from Medical Blog Network and Mark Gleason from HyGro Consulting Group.