Social media seems to be everywhere, and everyone seems to be using it. Citizens of the healthcare community in particular seem to be focusing more on the use of social media and the effect it’s having on the industry. Recently, for example, social media has been identified as an effective way to communicate during natural disasters and other emergencies. During Japan’s deadly earthquake earlier this year, those looking for loved ones often turned to Google’s people finder to help identify them in photos on Picasa. Earlier this year, a perspective article published in the New England Journal of Medicine outlined how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are affecting the public health system.

So if everyone is using social media, does that include doctors as well?  More significantly, should doctors embrace social media?
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