The ideas of free speech and physician patient privilege come into play in our next Social Media Throwdown.  This is a classic and complex issue facing patients and physicians.  On one side of the issue is a simple case of a patient expressing their opinion of an interaction with a physician, no different than sharing their experience at a restaurant.  In this issue, however, the topic isn’t chicken cordon bleu, it’s cancer, or any other of the thousands of aliments patients write about.  

The trend in healthcare, as in other consumer experience areas, is to get as much information shared as possible.  An informed consumer is a knowledgeable consumer, so the premise goes. That might be a stretch.  Information does not in and of itself lead to knowledge.  There are many websites, Patients Like Me, Healthgrades, Healthcarescoop.com, even Angie’s List, that encourage patients to blog about their experiences.   

Innocent enough, you might think, however, medical treatment is more complex than a night out on the town.  It involves many more variables, risk, and information, so putting it in the same context as a typical consumer experience maybe misleading.   With all the complexities and emotion of medical treatment, the last thing a physician should worry about is a blog post that can last online forever, right?   Some physicians are looking to limit blogging about the patient/physician relationship. Right behind this issue of unfettered patient speech is physician ratings on websites, with the major question do physicians ratings really illustrate performance?

On the patient side, blogging about their personal situations has been both helpful to others and in many cases therapeutic for the patient.  While the negative post is something physicians dread, the more common post is both positive and enlightening.  It’s a means for clinics to get immediate feedback and respond accordingly.  As more hospitals and clinics move to patient-centered care, patient engagement will become the norm.  Blogging about personal experiences is also part of the growing number of community sites built around aliments and diseases. One of the most popular around the world is Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation.

More money is behind websites that promote transparency and performance.   Social Media Throwdown will present both sides of the medical blogging debate with Dr. Jeffrey Segal,MD and CEO of Medical Justice and Amy Tenderich, author of the blog Diabetesmine on Friday, May 8 at 1:00pm Central Time US. Dr. Segal is a nationally recognized authority on medical malpractice lawsuits and social media based assaults on physician reputations. Ms. Tenderich has received numerous accolades for providing valuable information and building a community around a disease that affects more than 24 million Americans.

 It will be a live audio program over Blog Talk Radio, we will take questions from the audience.  Call in to (646) 716-4882 NUMBER or listen live at the Social Media Throwdown with Albert Maruggi on Blog Talk Radio

Other interviews Albert Maruggi has conducted social media impact on healthcare on the Marketing Edge Podcast

 As moderator,  here are a couple of highlights from my pespective, not quotes, but the points I took away from this conversation. 

Hajj Flemings 

• Personal brand is about character
• Difficult to be something you are not regardless of how you position yourself 
• It is necessary in our competitive job environment and global economy to establish yourself online
• It’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do

Geoff Livingston 

• Personal brand and reputation may be semantics, but within a company, personal online identities must be part of a team, not a lone star.
• Companies can grow and perhaps attract employees by having a blogging program as part of a team approach
• Learning about a person’s reputation is listening to what others say about you, not necessarily the information that is online
• Companies that invest in career development can generate loyalty, and today career development can include blogging and other social media representation 

Thousand thanks to Geoff and Hajj for being on the show.  Both men are on Twitter @GeoffLiving and @HajjFlemings

Let us know of topics you’d like to see debated on Social Media Throwdown.  For me, I’m going after the pros and cons of viral tweeting next. 

Schedule Change: We have moved this program to from Jan 30 to  Friday, February 6 at 1:00 PM Central US, Social Media Throwdown will debut. It is a live audio program with an entertaining look at a single issue that has clear lines of division among social media thought leaders. Hosted by Albert Maruggi, the first episode will feature Geoff Livingston and Hajj Flemings. The topic, is there really a personal brand?  Or is this just your reputation?  We have two articulate social media leaders on opposite sides of the issue.  Hajj Flemings,  author of The Brand YU Life, is an advocate and leading personal brand consultant. His perspective is personal branding  impacts every aspect of your life and requires on-line and offline management to be relevant.

Geoff Livingston comes at it from a more business approach, he is the author of Now is Gone, one of the most popular books on social media for business. His belief is a personal brand is easier said than done.  More than likely people are using  the term personal brand for a better way to market yourself for your next gig.

We’ll push the discussion on issues concerning a personal brand when working at a company.  Can a personal brand be changed from one year to the next, and if so is that more about product brand.   So do you have a personal brand? Do you need one?

Join us, Friday, February 6  at 1:00 pm Central Time US for Livingston and Flemings – The Personal Brand, on Social Media Throwdown. The live broadcast will be on Blog Talk Radio – get the URL to submit chat online   The call in number is (646) 716-4882.  We moved the date so Hajj can attend to the passing of a family member.  We share our condolences and appreciate him joining us on Feb 6. 

PS – I promised Geoff I’d make sure David Alston got the photo credit for his image, although I did crop it significantly.