By Angie Stewart
Mayo Clinic is opening its Center for Social Media, which will train health care organizations on using social media, such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. This new initiative was brought on by the increasing popularity of Web 2.0—it seems everyone is on Facebook these days! According to a Star Tribune article, Mayo Clinic has “embraced social media, which it sees as an extension of old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing.” This new center will offer consulting and coaching, host conferences, provide speakers, and lead training courses.
Regarding social media, Mayo Clinic’s Web site asserts, “it is our responsibility to help [health care organizations] use social media to get the best information, connect with providers and with each other, and inspire healthy choices.” Mayo Clinic is a very popular health care organization on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
It hopes to speed up the adoption of social media amongst the health care industry and facilitate better communication between physicians, patients, and health center employees.
NACHC estimates there are about 20 primary care associations (PCAs) utilizing Web 2.0 technology, and approximately 90 Community Health Centers. Is your PCA or health center using any kind of social media? Tell us about it!
Be prepared, indeed. 🙂
The Mayo Clinic has been on the leading edge for some time with embracing social media. At the helm is Lee Aase, who set up SMUG (social media university, global) to help people learn and share knowledge. See here for more: http://social-media-university-global.org/
In case you aren’t already aware, Ed Bennett maintains a list of hospital social media usage, which can be found at http://ebennett.org/hsnl/. Perhaps there is some way to connect and collaborate to include a section on community health centers?