Most presentations to physicians on social media don't do the job that they should be doing. They focus on the medium rather than what the medium can bring. They focus on tools rather than the value offered by tools. The audience only sees the shiny object. Presentations that tell doctors about social media rarely motivate. Few of us care about computer ... Continue Reading about Doctors, Social Media and Shiny Objects
Medical Microcelebrity
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
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
Regulating How Doctors Behave
Institutions are looking for rules to govern how doctors should behave using public digital media. When I'm asked about rules I usually suggest that we start by referencing the standard manual of physician behavior. That, of course, gives us a nice place to start. Blank stares. But certainly there are agreed upon guidelines that direct a physician's conduct ... Continue Reading about Regulating How Doctors Behave
An English Prof and a Pediatrician Walk into a Bar…
Today marked the first class of Medicine in the Age of Networked Intelligence, a Rice University course (English 278) that I’m co-teaching with my Medical Futures Lab partner-in-crime, Kirsten Ostherr, PhD. Our course examines how developments in mobile, social, personal and global health are transforming research, communication, and medical practice. Topics of ... Continue Reading about An English Prof and a Pediatrician Walk into a Bar…