SCHWARTZ HEALTHCARE-IT BLOG

Social Media - Get A Life

There has been much ado about the social media, the FaceSpaces and MyBooks and YouLifes and SecondTubes. I think it's a bunch of hype largely irrelevant to the intended HCIT vendor readership of this blog, who are selling to hospitals, medical groups and managed care organizations. All of these markets are well-known IT laggards who wouldn't know what was wrong with the first sentence of this post.

If you're selling to consumers under 30 it may be a different story. Or if you're in the insular and me-too world of high school, college or high tech. Even in those cases, it's still a lot media-driven hype. Most people are busy enough with real life and real friends.

It will take a complete generation for a majority of folks to care about or participate in social media, which by then will be very different. Very few of my peers here at Schwartz have Facebook pages (plenty of interns do, and about a quarter of the twentysomethings.) In the media, some reporters do if their beat happens to include technology and the Internet.

This perspective on social media shouldn't be confused with the Health 2.0 trend. As discussed in an earlier post, this is a new set of companies targeting consumers and as such their use of social media is expected and required. Indeed, many of these companies are social media in and of themselves. One client example is icyou.com, called the "YouTube of healthcare" by the San Francisco Chronicle.

But I'm a PR guy and the question comes up about how healthcare IT marketers can capitalize on this latest trend. So this week brings a guest blog post about Facebook by colleague Mark McClennan.

"Facebook is quickly becoming an essential tool for public relations. More journalists (particularly technology and social media/bloggers) are active participants on Facebook and even solicit pitches via Facebook.

Some reporters now take pitches via their Facebook (yes, it means others see your pitches). Still other reporters share what they are working on/interested in. At a minimum, Facebook gives PR professionals a chance to connect with reporters at a deeper level and learn what pitches might resonate.

There are challenges with this move to Facebook as well. Facebook began as a way for college students to communicate. If you are an existing user, you might have some information on there that you don't want your colleagues, reporters or customers to see.

See if the reporters you are pitching are on there, and if it makes sense, add them as a friend.

Following are a some Facebook public relations guidelines:

1) Create a professional profile--If you have an existing account with information on it you do not want known outside your circle of friends- you should create a new "professional" profile that is distinct and only contains business contacts. That way you can keep in touch with your crazy college buddies, and Walt Mossberg at the same time without overlap.

2) Be responsible--Remember, everything you write, every photo you add - reflects on you and your company. Do not write anything you would not want read by a reporter or your colleagues.

3) Respect confidentiality--You should not share secrets, talk negatively about our company or competitors or discuss internal events on your Facebook pages."

Posted by Shawn Whalen on February 1, 2008 at 11:06 AM
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