I thought that some of you might be interested in an article in the latest Medical WA Forum magazine, a glossy monthly sent free to general practitioners in Western Australia. The magazine typically has a variety of articles on clinical topics, practice management, medical politics, and public health, as well as "lifestyle" pieces on cars and wine and suchlike. It is sponsor- and advertising-supported, mostly (as far as I can tell) by local medical specialist firms, real estate, finance and insurance companies, as well as some pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

This month's edition has a cover theme of Social Media. On page 29 is a guest column by "social media expert" Damien Cummings. (His blog is here: http://damiencummings.blogspot.com/ - and you can see the whole (unedited) article here:

http://damiencummings.blogspot.com/2011/09/social-media-lessons-from-corporate.html

) . His LinkedIn profile is here, so perhaps those more in the know than I might be able to guess which artificial baby milk company he worked for: http://www.linkedin.com/in/damiencummings

Cummings opens by talking about some of the benefits and risks of social media to companies, and generalises this to the medical profession. He closes by offering some practical tips on getting started in social media as a medico.

Fully one-third of the article is the middle section, subheaded "The opportunities." Here it is:

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"Firstly, there’s a real opportunity to differentiate your practice and be seen as a medical thought leader because of your presence in social media. Patients talk. Social media amplifies this talk in an unprecedented way.

Social media is fast becoming the preferred method for patients to understand their health and how to get the best treatment. Previously, I worked with a baby milk brand who was marketing their products directly to pregnant women in the early stages of pregnancy. Their entire customer relationship management and engagement plan was based around one key customer insight – in the early stages of pregnancy there is a large amount of doubt and risk. In those first three months of pregnancy, mothers will not reach out to their families and friends but they will turn to strangers anonymously to understand if what they’re going through is normal, what they should expect and to understand what they should do next. 

Their strategy involved mothers managing their communities (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc.), being available via Online Chat, as well as more traditional call centre/telephone. This remarkable strategy was the core pillar of their marketing and has built enormous loyalty (close to 90% of Mothers choose to stay with the first baby milk brand they choose. This is up to 4 - 5 years of brand loyalty)."

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This is being presented to doctors uncritically as a POSITIVE example of social media in the medical/health/nutrition world. How disgusting.

Lara Hopkins
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