Thus far we have covered both blogs and microblogs as we walk through the official scientific study that was completed by the University of British Columbia on the uses of social media in medicine and healthcare. Today we move into the wide world of social networks. Ask ten people in the know to define what a social network actually is, and you will get as many answers. The study provides a legitimate definition as follows:
Social networking sites are defined as Web-browser and smartphone accessible services that allow users to create social connections in a public or semi-public form (through the use of profiles) in order to share information updates with other site users.
Today we will focus on a current leader in social networks:
Here are some fancy facts on some pretty neat uses of social networking sites in the practice of medicine and healthcare:
- Researchers found that most common type of groups on Facebook were peer-to-peer networks centered on specific medical conditions These groups fall into four broad categories including: 1) fundraising, 2) awareness, 3) marketing, an 4) general support
- Researchers often join these groups as a means of disseminating information.
- With the good come the bad. While there are plentiful examples of epatients using online patient communities to support one another through illness, there are also a select few that self-aggregate in “negative-behavior support groups”, which are typically focused on the promotion of alcohol consumption.
- Here’s an idea I’d love to import. In Taiwan a well-known emergency physician blogger created a public group on the topic of improving patient wait times in the ER. The group went viral in less than a month. A majority of emergency department staff from around Taiwan joined the group and commented. The group got so much attention that the Minister of Health and his staff joined the group and commented directly. As a result, the minister began making visits to ERs in ten different cities with a promise to improve funding to reduce wait times in collaboration with the Taiwanese Bureau of National Health Insurance.
One of the great features of social networks like Facebook, which have yet to be used much in healthcare are third-party applications. Here we integrate application programming interfaces (APIs) into Facebook. This allows outside software and data to be visualized and tied directly to the social network. Candy Crush is likely the most popular third-party application at this time if I had to wager. We have a long way to go until health apps are actually helpful in Facebook. In fact, less than 30% of listed applications in the health category are real. The rest are spam. Of the ones that do exist, many focus on weight loss, smoking cessation, fundraising, and health education on specific conditions. From what I can tell those are dwindling. In fact, of the three mentioned in the study, only one still exists.
- Get Up and Move: (no longer exists) allows users to challenge their friends to engage in physical activity and report on it after they have completed it
- START: (no longer exists) Brought to you by the American Heart Association, this app allows users to answer questionnaires on the topic of cardiovascular health and upload the data to a health portal
- HealthSeeker: this is a diabetes app that provides health education and the ability to win points as an incentive
In an attempt to reach as many people as possible all at once, social networks are no longer the “up and coming” medium. They are the “here and now”. There are many ways that Facebook is being used in medicine and healthcare, and there are still much open opportunity.
