Mayo Clinic launches Center for Social Media

The Mayo Clinic has launched the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. Mayo Clinic was on TIME's 50 best websites of 2010.  The Mayo Clinic is all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Now, they're going to fully embrace the social media revolution through their Social Media Center.

So what's this Social Media Center all about?

The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients.

Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Philosophy:

Mayo Clinic believes individuals have the right and responsibility to advocate for their own health, and that it is our responsibility to help them use social media tools to get the best information, connect with providers and with each other, and inspire healthy choices. We intend to lead the health care community in applying these revolutionary tools to spread knowledge and encourage collaboration among providers, improving health care quality everywhere.

Mission of the Center:

Lead the social media revolution in health care, contributing to health and well being for people everywhere.

Vision for the Center:

Mayo Clinic will be the authentic voice for patients and health care professionals, building relationships through the revolutionary power of social media.

You can learn more here: http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org

Kaiser Permanente Social Media Policy

A few people were asking me for the Kaiser Permanente Social Media Policy, so click here to view their public social media policy.

Kaiser Permanente has also been leveraging YouTube for their commercials. Here's one example that features HealthConnect® and My Health Manager.

Facebook misconduct by medical students

Some medical students are using social media very poorly. They are posting inappropriate comments, pictures, and videos using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media outlets. We are seeing articles in journals like the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) about this and MSNBC is picking up on these stories as well.

The JAMA article is titled, "Online Posting of Unprofessional Content by Medical Students"
The MSNBC story is titled, "Facebook misconduct: Med students cross line"

What more will we see in the near future? The bottom line is that medical students need to be very cautious when they use social media. Something that may seem harmless may come back to haunt you down the road. I'm a big fan of social media, but I try to use them cautiously to balance my personal life (on sites like Facebook) with my professional life and my blogs.

Pharma marketing guidelines for the use of social media

Should pharma marketing guidelines be different when they're using social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, forums, etc.)? The world of social media is so new and different. In this world, we get two-way interaction and although you can moderate certain elements, people can (and will often) say whatever they want to say.

• How well do the folks at the FDA understand the use of social media? 
• When (if ever) will the FDA release guidelines on how pharma/biotech should use social media to communicate with consumers vs. healthcare professionals?
• Will the PhRMA Code come out with some type of guideline first?

I have no idea if (or when) such guidelines will ever emerge. Part of the complexity of social media is that it evolves so rapidly. Twitter launched as a micro blogging platform, but now it's used more as a broadcast medium. YouTube isn't simply a site for silly videos anymore. How will pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies leverage social media to communicate with consumers and healthcare professionals? (they're already using Sermo to communicate with U.S. physicians)

An atypical story of male sexual assault

I don't really know how often this happens. Three women (one was the mans' wife) apparently decided that they wanted to teach one man a lesson. According to this story on CNN, three women were upset by the fact that this one man was having sexual relations with all three of them (I'm sure the wife was quite upset). Therese Ziemann, Wendy Sewell, Michelle Belliveau and the man's wife are accused of felony false imprisonment, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison. We don't know the name of the man's wife because CNN does not name victims of alleged sexual assault and will not name the alleged victim's wife since they use the same last name.

One of the ladies texted the other women to let them know "he's tied up." I wonder if they uploaded any video clips to YouTube.

According to CNN, after the other women arrived (he was tied up), they peppered him with questions like, "which do you love more?" and "who do you want to grow old with?" Here's a memorable line from CNN: One of the women "told police she slapped her lover and asked "can you handle that?" before using Krazy Glue to stick his penis to his stomach."

Do you think this story will deter people from being unfaithful? 

Ethicon Endo-Surgery on YouTube

If you're into medical device marketing, you'll like this story. J&J's Ethicon Endo-Surgery is using YouTube as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) outreach strategy for its Realize adjustable gastric band. They're also launching the “Realize my Success” online clinical support tool for patients. Will the combination of YouTube marketing plus an online support tool help patients lose weight?