It’s been an important couple of days for social health. This week marked the inaugural SXSH in Austin one day before the famed SXSW. A meeting of passionate social health thinkers, SXSH was an unconference that was as important in what it symbolized as what it offered. SXSH has potentially instigated the evolution of a core meeting for those interested in the role of online socialization in health care. It’s success stemmed from the hard work of Shwen Gwee, Dana Lewis, Reed Smith and Tom Stitt.
Johnson and Johnson’s Marc Monseau called SXSH one of the best social media events he had ever attended (and he’s seen a few). And SXSH caught the attention of SXSW organizers who assembled a last-minute panel to discuss SXSH. Until now, health has been an afterthought at SXSW.
Looking forward I have a couple of thoughts:
Silos. The topic of social media and health care draws on a handful of interests. SXSH focused on providers, pharma, and e-patients. But based on preliminary feedback from SXSH and attendees at the ER 2.0 SXSW panel, mobile developers are listening and likely will play a pivotal role in the implementation of apps that really change (or ‘delta’ in the words of Jen McCabe) health behavior.
The insight and innovation of Greg Matthews of the Humana’s Innovation Center has brought attention to the role of payers in the health conversation. Toby Plewak, The New England Journal of Medicine’s Manager of Product Development, has amazing insight from his work bringing the world’s most prestigious medical journal into the social sphere. I had the opportunity to meet Tobin at SXSW and discuss SXSH 2011. He’s excited about attending and hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to have him as a speaker or panelist.
All of these stakeholders are important and deserve a voice as SXSH is defined.
Cross-fertilization. SXSH, by virtue of its relationship to SXSW, has at its disposal some of the greatest minds in interactive media. We should tap that resource. We should take advantage of the remarkabl talent populating SXSW and cross-train with non-health experts from other industries. This year SXSH had Rohit Bhargava at our disposal which brought us visible credibility and expertise.
Show me the thought leaders. SXSH could evolve as the core meeting of those who think and innovate in health and social media. This, of course, will require the presence of serious minds. Thinkers drive attendance and conversation. Attendance draws sponsorship. SXSH should also strive to elevate those who are quietly pushing the margin but don’t have the brand recognition of the space’s KOLs.
Is there a doctor in the house? While painfully slow to engage in any meaningful way, physicians should not be discounted. There are MDs revolutionizing the way health maintained and delivered. SXSH should give them a pulpit. And don’t forget about the next generation of physicians. They’re in line to help set the standards once physicians take a more visible role.
After SXSH, let’s make SXSW healthier. Based on the standing-room-only status at our ER 2.0 panel, the attendees of SXSW want to hear more. Those versed in social media and healthcare should work to create panels that help SXSW attendees learn from what we’ve worked so hard to understand.
I believe that at some point we’ll look back at the passion of those present at this year’s SXSH and reminisce how it all started.
I’ll see you in 2011.
{ 14 comments }
I have to admit that I was very excited to put faces to avatars at the SXSH Sharing & Exchanging Social Health conference. This was a meeting of leaders with an intense passion to help patients open doors for better health.
Innovators with hands on experience and even more impressive, a community of online listeners ready to inspire and direct the future of health communication.
This is a great post – with so many dollars invested in healthcare (1 out of every 6 spent in the US, according to the White House) it only makes sense for hospitals, practices, and pharma to share the innovation stage with the Microsofts and Chevrolets of the world. SXSW would seem to be a great venue for that conversation.
Jeff Greene
HealthEd
Healthcamp has been laying this foundation across the country for some time now. Glad to see Texas finally show up…soon San Diego to get on the map too.
i'm grateful for all of the people covering SXSH, since i couldn't attend. i'd also love to see employers added to the mix of partners (and health communication professionals, like me). employers are a huge piece of this puzzle, given the number of lives they cover through their employer-provided benefits. they are not health experts and are semi-reluctant health advocates in some situations. they need to be part of the solution as much as any other partner.
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Great post. SXSH was a great first step in what hopefully will be a longer, more intense discussion between the key stakeholders in human health. We need to break down the silos that separate the manufacturers, physicians, providers, academics, researchers and scientists to help provide people what they are looking for when they turn online for health — a means to improve their health and well being. Though SXSH was a great event, I still feel it lacked adequate representation from the patient community — that could be one thing to aim for at future events. (BTW — my one regret for the entire weekend, besides losing a slide or two during my presentation, was failing to get to the Salt Lick. Tell us, Dr. V, was it worth it?)
Yes, great post and I'd like to add a pitch for assertively, consciously including social scientists to help participants in this conversation understand historical and current context in more nuanced ways.
Yes, this could be considered shameless self-promotion: I'm a sociologist by training. And shameless name dropping: Susannah Fox and Christine Kraft will back me up on the importance and value of including social scientists at the core, not as add-ons.
I share the sentiments of your commenters as well as your original post, Bryan … I think that SxSH was a beginning. A great beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.
The question that's been on my mind is how to keep it going in a meaningful way. For my part, SxSH felt like a family reunion in many ways, but now the family is back to their "normal" lives and "normal" networks … whether that means #hcsm or #socialpharmer or #co_health. Where is the place for the continuation of #SxSH throughout the year?
As we chew on that one, I will reiterate my suggestion to close the session … I would love to see some very purposeful introductions made between the various parties, such as "insurers, meet pharma companies." Or "Patients, meet health systems." Or, "Doctors, meet social innovators." Perhaps those context-specific introductions could be the foundational content of SxSH as it evolves …
great post Bryan, I am thinking along the same lines as Greg. Where and how do we keep this going? the list of hashtags is endless. Ed Bennett mentioned #ER20 for those who attended his session. The benefit and power of this is collective not everyone heading back to their own hashtags.
As we look to 2011 what do we want to accomplish? what are we missing?
Amazing! the continued omission of HealthCamp, but some very respectable tweeps in my judgement…the originator of this conversation…wow! See http://healthcamp.tv/.
I have recently tweeted on this issue as it is becoming an increasing top of mind subject as one interest group vs. the other wrestles for 'control' or 'ownership' of the social media narrative. Can this become the 'mother of all wars' Saddam Hussein had in mind?
With the expected flow of corporate money into emerging digital vs. traditional media channels, he may not be far of the point.
Bryan – so glad you made it down there.
[Warning: long, laborious comment here.]
I see SXSH is another layer in the ongoing and evolving efforts by various parties who are interested in integrating emerging media and technologies into the entire spectrum of health care, from wellness to death.
There have been HealthCamps going on for some time to.
And I'm glad that #RNchat (http://RNchat.org) was given the opportunity to present via Skype as well. I've been developing the community of nurses, because honestly nursing is the one profession which answers the question: "What is the effect of all these events that transpire during health care on the human being?"
That's an important question – it's fundamental in any discussion about social media in health care.
You know me: I'm rather I express a certain "contrarian" voice in this discussions.
It's not enough to port in the philosophy of Chris Brogan and Tim O'Reilly into health care social media.
That SXSH is trying to be an SXSW analogue is a welcome first step. But I would argue that we must be cautious about replicating the "Web 2.0" Kool Aid (not all of it is Kool Aid, but I've been seeing a trend).
For instance, @LiveStrong claimed the following about social media changing healthcare forever:
1 – Social media is free
2 – Social media is real-time
3 – Social media is patient-centric.
At some level, this is sort of true. But I have to strongly disagree.
I would make the opposite claim:
1 – Social media is *not* free
2 – Social media is *not* real-time
3 – Social media is *not* patient-centric.
What do I mean?
1 – Social media is not free. Why? Nothing is free. There are opportunity costs and risks inherent in everything. And public social media is not ubiquitously accessible. There are risks concerning information integrity which should not be taken lightly.
2 – Social media is not Real-time. It's instant, yes. But real-time is completely different from instant. Instant is just that: immediate messaging. But real-time is this: the right, relevant information delivered at the right time in the right context. Building that kind of software is immensely challenging. And yet it offers us a truly powerful means of connecting people with important information. Tweets and Facebook statuses are nice for an ambient intimacy and serendipity – but they aren't what should be called real-time.
3 – Social media is not patient-centric. The Web had no Centrality, no central authority and no central perspective. By definition it isn't anything-centric. Yes, the Web is opening up ways for patients to seek information, connect, network and reach out to providers. But patient-centricity is something that requires the efforts of the entire health care process. So far, this just isn't the case with the Web.
Anyhoo, these are my off-the-cuff thoughts.
I'll be at the next SXSH and look forward meeting the wonderful people and organizers and linchpins who will lead us to new land.
Until then, I appeal to voices of reason and critical thinking on Twitter and blogs and everywhere else on the Web.
@PhiBaumann
( http://Twitter.com/PhilBaumann )
I wish I could have made it to #SXSH. HealthCamp has been promoting this conversation for 2 years. There are some great minds that have already contributed to these vital discussions.
Get involved with HealthCamp at http://healthca.mp.
Here are some questions as we look ahead to next year:
Is it possible to succeed despite this year's success? That is, how can we grow the gathering while maintaining the engaged, friendly, human scale of this year's meeting? Of all the meetings I've attended over the last year, this was the smallest and also the most thoughtful and creative. That's no coincidence. Chris Brogan dealt with some of this in the context of SXSW http://bit.ly/929Him
How can we better differentiate SXSH from e-Patient Connections, Health2.0, ExL Digital Pharma, etc. by reaching beyond the usual suspects to tap both the interactive and film resources of SXSW and to include the experience of colleagues outside the marketing function? (And, to Marc's point, e-patients, clinicians, providers.)
Can we find ways to better enable the participation of those unable to travel to Austin during SXSW (when, as Guy Kawasaki points out, the Horrible Hilton raises room rates to $500/night), as @lostonroute66 asked? What can we use besides Twitter to reach outside the conference room?
Should a conference like this be more than a place for sharing ideas and business promotion? Are there areas where we should be seeking agreement on standards, policies, practices that would further the common goal of using social media and technology to improve health?
The next year will give us time to think about what happens next, and to digest all the bar-b-que and Tex-Mex we ate.
Thanks to Dr. V for a terrific wrap-up
So many fantastic comments. It would seem that SXSH has raised as many questions as it answered.
I have found Gregg's comments most provocative – lot's to think about. The issue of 'ownership' of the off-line convo is interesting and this will evolve as the our numbers increase. Influence is a real concern, however. Despite its start, I'd be surprised if we were to see SXSH continue in the model of Healthcamp. Sydney's question is key: How will SXSH evolve to be different from existing meetings?
Fran and Meredith add the voices of stakeholders who will continue to materialize as social health evolves and changes.
I so agree with Chimoose (Greg Matthews). Despite the interest in busting silos I feel that SXSH remained a relatively segregated event and we have to work towards cross-fertilization.
Phil's comments stand on their own. And I have to say that seeing everyone huddled around a speaker listening to you at SXSH was priceless.
And Marc, the taste of the BBQ Salt Lick was surpassed only by pleasure of seeing Ed Bennett take a picture of it (we gotta get him to Texas more often).
Nice post Brian, in answer to the above question, Rashmi from slideshare just IM's me this http://www.slideshare.net/sxsw2010
another great use of social media in healthcare using slideshare to educate patients, staff, all constituents in health.
Best, Natalie
http://www.personalmedicine.com