Pharma 2.0

My friend and fellow social media evangelist Eileen O’Brien has launched a weekly Tweetchat about social media and pharma. I stumbled upon it on Wednesday night (1/6) and joined in near the end when Eileen mentioned AZ Helps – a sort of help desk offering from AstraZeneca that uses Twitter. I didn’t even know about it so quickly looked at their Twitter page.

AZ is monitoring Twitter and doing proactive outreach to posters who mention problems with access to Nexium or even adverse events. The posts are primarily this: @[twitteruser]: Saw your tweet about access to NEXIUM® (esomeprazole magnesium) AstraZeneca may be able to help. Call us@ 800-236-9933. One, however, said this: @[twitteruser]: call AstraZeneca @800-236-9933 to report any side effects you had when taking NEXIUM® (esomeprazole magnesium).

Eileen asked the group whether they felt AZ was violating the privacy of the Tweeter by reaching out publicly? I piped in, as did others, to say that I did not feel that was the case because the poster put it out on Twitter, a public forum. Thus he/she should not expect privacy. Others chimed in with different perspectives – totally fine – as well as comments about how bland AZ Helps is and that is not really social interaction.

I disagree and want to publicly applaud AZ. We keep lambasting pharma for not doing anything or not doing enough. Here AZ is doing everything we preach: monitoring, interacting and engaging. They are not ignoring people who may have trouble gaining access to their drug or who may have had an adverse event. They are giving them proper information and a mechanism by which to potentially resolve their issues. What is more social than that?

So come on – give credit where it’s due.

By the way, congratulations to Eileen who recently joined Siren Interactive as Director of Search and Innovation. Join her next Wednesday at 8pm Eastern for the next Tweetchat and remember to use #SocPharm in your posts. You can jump in or just observe. As @Doctor_V put it: I’m lurking #SocPharm.

Facts, figures, data. We all love to use numbers in our PPTs. Great info has trickled out over the past couple of months from one of my favorite sources – Manhattan Research. And thank you to MR for mentioning Pharma 2.0 in its white paper: How Digital is Shaping the Future of Pharmaceutical Marketing. There are far more pharma/social media blogs out there today than there were when I started last year.

Patients

• Over 102 million people are using the Web to research prescription drug information.
• Over 157 million consumers are using the Web to research any health or medical info.
• About 35% of the U.S. adult population uses social media for health and medical purposes in 2009.
• 80 million people create or consume content on health blogs, message boards, chat rooms, health social networks and health communities, and patient testimonials.
• Certain conditions generate more conversation than others. These include mental health conditions, fibromyalgia, and ADD/ADHD.

Physicians

• The average physician now spends a full work day (eight hours) using the Internet for professional reasons – a substantial jump from only 2.5 hours in 2002.
• Mobile technology has played a significant role in increasing physicians’ dependency on online resources – 64% of doctors own smartphones and are using them to supplement their desk or laptop computer usage to be “always on.”
• Many are collaborating in online communities designed specifically for healthcare professionals; participation in these networks doubled between 2008 and 2009.