I like to look beyond the confines of medicine in order to understand medicine. And I happen to follow a handful of sociologists who bring me things that get me there. Today I stumbled upon "Not This One": Social Movements, the Attention Economy, and Microcelebrity Networked Activism by Zeynep Turfekci. The paper explores a new dynamic borne of the networked age: ... Continue Reading about Medical Microcelebrity
Permanence and the Public Physician
The idea of permanence is an important concept for the public physician. It’s important because it’s a new concept. Since the dawn of civilization medical students and doctors have had opinions, ideas, beliefs and complaints. Anger and frustration were around long before the digital medium for sharing. Traditionally remarks went no further than earshot of the ... Continue Reading about Permanence and the Public Physician
How to Recruit Doctors for a Strong Blogging Presence
So you’re a hospital or a medical school, you’ve got a new blog that’s getting traction. But you want more of your doctors on board. You’ve reached out by traditional means, but not a lot of uptake. So what do you do? Your timing is great since doctors are increasingly venturing out into public spaces to write, record, converse and curate. They’re curious. ... Continue Reading about How to Recruit Doctors for a Strong Blogging Presence
The Second Nature of Public Medical Students
This tweet came floating down my Twitter stream yesterday. Allison, a medical student, remarked on an impending podcast interview. As quickly as her tweet appeared in my stream it was gone. There was a reply by me as well as another premedical student that I could see. But otherwise, not a lot of pomp and circumstance. What’s remarkable is that students like ... Continue Reading about The Second Nature of Public Medical Students
The Cost of Ignoring the Streisand Effect
This is good: Boston neurosurgeon Sagun Tuli reportedly sued the surviving spouse of a patient over a negative blog post. Apparently part of the action was grounded in the fact that the less-than-flattering commentary appeared on the first page of Google when searching the doctor’s name. This doctor apparently had never heard of the Streisand effect. Doctors ... Continue Reading about The Cost of Ignoring the Streisand Effect
Kaiser Permanente on Understanding the Social Doctor
This week Kaiser Permanente hosted an event at the Center for Total Health to release the results of a new study looking at physician conversations on social platforms. Graciously supported by KP, the study was fueled by the thinking of Greg Matthews and team of developers at WCG. Ted Eytan of KP was there at and he has offered a first-hand perspective. See the ... Continue Reading about Kaiser Permanente on Understanding the Social Doctor