Crumple it up Blog

Posts tagged as:

health blogosphere

What I Learned About the Health Blogosphere at #BWE09

by Chris Hall on November 18, 2009 · Comments

I realize how late I am in getting this out, but I want to share it nonetheless. I was able to sit in on the State of the Health Blogosphere panel at BlogWorld Expo, and it was a unique experience for somebody representing the online efforts of a “payer” in the health care system. 

The panel consisted of the following patient and provider bloggers:

Take Aways

Here are some of the things I took away from the panel, in no particular order:

Credibility counts. Credibility is huge within the medical blogging community. People seeking health information online are looking for it from credible resources. They’re looking to share experiences and build trusted relationships over time. Being transparent with any kind of sponsored arrangement is a big deal within this community.

Mainstream acceptance. Kevin Pho talked about the merging of social and mainstream media, within the health community. Most people don’t surf blogs for medical information. Yet, this could change as med-bloggers become accepted by mainstream outlets; Kevin mentioned that he writes for CNN.com.

Blogging vs. social media. It seemed the panel looked at blogging as their primary medium of interest. I got the impression that it wasn’t desireable for med-bloggers to syndicate information on Facebook and Twitter. The SERMO professional network was also brought up as a possible threat to med-blogging, which surprised me. My point of view is that all forms of social media can fit together in some way, but I didn’t get that from the panel. 

Where Do Payers Fit?

I asked what role payers can play in the future of the medical blogosphere. I thought Kevin Pho had a great response.  Basically we need to continue to be human beings. (My words not his) Payers can be part of the conversation as long as we’re open and honest about our point of view. Health care is such a complicated topic, that it’s going to take a lot of listening and a lot of understanding to figure it out together.

Keyword being together, because we’re all in it together.

What Do You Think?

I would like to get your thoughts on the medical blogging community. Is there a place for it? Does it matter? And do payers belong?  Please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Related articles by Zemanta

Popularity: 4% [?]

{ 1 comment }

DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.