In only eight years, Facebook has transformed the experience of interpersonal communication around the world. It’s now rapidly working its way to be a top influencer of every type of consumer retail purchase in the United States, from toothpaste to real estate. It is not a long stretch to assume that Facebook will also soon radically change healthcare in our country.
Is your hospital prepared? Last year Facebook went from 500 million users to 845 million users. Nearly 60% of these users are women, with nearly one third over 35 years of age. Between 2009 and 2010, users between the ages of 50 and 63 grew by 88%! Consumers use Facebook to connect, share, discover and learn. Now with the new “life timelines,” Facebook users even have the option of one-click sharing of everything from having surgery to a broken bone to cancer!
Does your community view your hospital, its website and its educational outreach as a convenient connection for them to learn from, play around in and generally have a good time with while getting the important health and clinical access information they need across their lifetime?
If you can use a little — or a lot — of help in thinking about this area, Spirit of Women is working diligently to become a key thought leader in social networking for American hospitals. Each of our professional meetings and consumer programs include a social media component for experience in “viral marketing” growth. All of our communication platforms have digital versions, from our national Spirit of Women Magazine to a Hand in Hand cancer prevention campaign.
Join in the conversation with us. Visit us on Facebook or in person with Guy McClurkan at 561-544-2030 or gmcclurkan@spiritofwomen.com.
To read more about how Facebook is changing the experience of healthcare for Americans, click here for a discussion about “How New Facebook Features Will Impact Healthcare” by Jonathan Richman.