SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media



Social Media in Healthcare Management

Social Media

Social media are media that use the techniques of communication highly accessible to facilitate social interactions. This term covers the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and content creation. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of online applications that based on ideology and technology of Web 2.0 and enable the creation and exchange of user-generated content ". Social media uses the collective intelligence in a spirit of online collaboration (Benkler, 2006)

Through the mass media, individuals or groups of individuals who work together create Web content, organize content, index it, modify it or make comments, combined with personal creations. Social media use many techniques such as flow RSS' syndication fees and other Web, blogs, and wikis, photo sharing (Flicker), video-sharing (YouTube), the podcasts, social networks, the collaborative bookmarking, and, virtual worlds, the micro-blogging, and more.

Tools Used by Social Media

As with any new technology, adoption varies from organization to organization. Since social media comprises many different technologies under its umbrella definition, it has the chance to impact agency missions in many ways. The early adopters in most agencies seem to be the public affairs and communications organizations that use social media as a means of communicating with constituents. HHS said it succinctly - social media used for “getting information to the public and getting back feedback and comments (Gentle, 2009)”.

The pros and cons of using social media in Healthcare marketing

With the room, filled with minds representing nearly every sphere of the patient health care life cycle, one key point from wool.labs Cocktail Convention in Philadelphia on patient adherence was that patients will only stick to a treatment when they trust the source.

Before the event, wool.labs used its WebDig tool to cull data from social media sites and attendees and other health care-industry members. The resulting data have shown a proclivity of patients who seek help for their conditions through the social media realm; thus, many would like to see physicians become more involved in that space. One of the event's guest panelists, President and Co-Founder of Prostate Cancer International Michael Scott said that based on his own experience, it has been very difficult to get the medical community involved with any social network that brings together patients of the same disease.

“I wish I had a physician who would come on to my social network and answer questions honestly ...