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Physicians Increase Use of Social Tools

Two recent surveys explore how physician’s use social media for personal and professional use.  What was interesting from the data is how actively physicians are now using social tools for professional purposes, particularly their affinity for closed, private communities.

The Care Continuim Alliance and Quantia Research found that over 65% of physicians now use some form of social media for professional purposes.  For background, their “definition of ‘social media’ includes not only social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, but also professional and patient networking communities specific to the medical field, blogs and sites such as YouTube.”  

However, while many industry observers would bet the increase in social activity has taken place on open platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the reality according to a new research study conducted by Brian McGowan and leading experts in the field is that of the platforms studied, online restricted proffessional networks were the most used platform for learning...8x's Twitter and 2.5x's Facebook.  

Given regulatory and liability concerns, its not surprising that physicians are extremely reluctant to discuss clinical issues in a public forum such as Facebook.  Thus, as we look to the future use of social tools by physicians, we will see a continued desire to interact in private, secure communities that are even more tightly integrated into the very fabric of clinical practice.