Anonymity aint what it used to be. The Miami Herald announced today that it is outsourcing its comment function to Facebook. Concluding that 'the cloak of anonymity stifles respectful debate,' we must assume that they’ve had enough of those who can’t stand behind their own words. Perhaps they should have referenced the ‘cloak of pseudonymity’ since online ... Continue Reading about The Cloak of Anonymity Stifles Respectful Debate
An Institution’s Responsibility to a Public Physician
We talk a lot about the responsibility of doctors to respect a certain standard when it comes to their public presence. I’ve suggested that we’re accountable to our communities, colleagues and our patients. Extreme views and rogue behavior have a way of reflecting badly on those around us. The question then becomes, what responsibility do institutions, colleagues ... Continue Reading about An Institution’s Responsibility to a Public Physician
Is There a Physician Mandate to Connect?
The more popular Twitter becomes, the more we hear about the mandate to participate. Those of us who've made the step feel like we've discovered something that everyone should do. We want our friends and coworkers to jump in with us. In the corporate communications world there's a shortsighted trend to 'make CEO's use Twitter.' The same pressure can be seen among ... Continue Reading about Is There a Physician Mandate to Connect?
Social Screening Medical School Candidates
From Postgraduate Medical Journal in November 2012 comes Influence of social networking websites on medical school and residency selection process. The investigators surveyed 600 U.S. medical school and residency admissions representatives regarding their social screening medical school candidates in the selection process. If you can crawl over the paywall, you’ll ... Continue Reading about Social Screening Medical School Candidates
Public Doctors. Public Thinking
I’ve been thinking about doctors who think out loud. Public thinkers. Public doctors. What I’m referring to is doctors creating content and having conversations in areas where everyone can see. Writing blogs, creating videos, creating e-books, or curating links on Twitter. It’s a term that involves not just social dialog but the individual creation of retrievable ... Continue Reading about Public Doctors. Public Thinking
It’s Becoming Harder to Fake it as a Speaker
Not long ago I served as a panel speaker at a large, national medical meeting. The subject matter was social media. The panel consisted of myself, another doctor with a well-established platform and a third woman, a high-ranking member of The Society. The problem was the third panelist. As she began to speak the live tweeting began. People on the other side of ... Continue Reading about It’s Becoming Harder to Fake it as a Speaker