LiveGO: LiveGO is a web dashboard that incorporates email, instant messaging and social media in one easy-to-use platform. After connecting LiveGO to your Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail/Yahoo!/AOL email accounts, users can get a combined view of all messages and updates in the dashboard screen, or they can choose each account individually to obtain the full functionality of each tool right there on the site. For each email account, the corresponding instant messaging platform is imported, as well, and then combined into one buddy list with icons distinguishing to which network each contact belongs. LiveGO allows users to engage with their entire social network in one place, instead of keeping several tabs or browser windows open at once.

Past Words of the Week

ifttt, Chaptur, SOPA, Social Television, Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

SOPA: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill that was introduced late last year in the House of Representatives that is aimed at protecting intellectual property on the Internet. Supporters of the bill cite its ability to improve the enforcement of copyright laws as well as protect Internet users against scams aimed at convincing them to purchase illegal or counterfeit goods. Opponents of the bill have a differing opinion about SOPA, claiming it violates the first amendment and will create Internet censorship. There is also the fear that, if made law, it could have a chilling effect on user-generated content. This is such an important issue that several major Internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Yahoo! and Wikipedia, are planning a coordinated blackout in protest of the bill. They say this will give us “a taste of what we could expect from post-SOPA Internet.” This is quite the controversy, and regardless of what side you take, SOPA is a term we’ll be hearing a lot during 2012.

Past Words of the Week

Social Television, Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

Social Television: Social TV, simply put, is the combination of watching television while simultaneously engaging in conversations via social media. Tweeting or Facebooking about the shows we are watching was a trend on the rise during 2011 and is expected to continue to thrive as we move into 2012. Twitter has already begun to leverage this trend in several ways. The microblogging network teamed up with the new show X Factor to implement live social voting during the show, and they have also published a guide on best practices for integrating TV with social media. We’ve also seen an increase in social check-ins – where a user checks in to watching a TV show, as opposed to arriving at a physical location – thanks to new social TV apps, which have been dubbed “second screen apps.” Other companies are cutting out the middle man completely, including Hulu, which is offering its Hulu Plus service as an iPad app.

Past Words of the Week

Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

In the days following the assassination of Osama bin Laden, you might have checked your Facebook Newsfeed and Twitter home page to see many of your friends posting the following quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Beautiful? Yes. Inspiring? Absolutely. Factual? Not exactly.

While the sentiment remains, the quote above is apparently an interesting conglomeration of excerpts from King’s book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?,” his speech, “Strength to Love,” and misplaced quotation marks from reposts of the original Facebook status.

You might also have seen the following quote by Mark Twain:

“I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”

Pointedly appropriate? Yes. The perfect description of your mixed emotions? Exactly. Factual? Kind of.

A slightly varied version of the quote was actually spoken by Clarence Darrow – a trial lawyer best known for defending John T. Scopes in the “Scopes Monkey Trial.”

In an information-saturated society, we must be vigilant about what we attribute as truthful, factual and honest. While neither of these internet memes was malicious or intended to mislead, it’s fascinating that people are so quick to not only accept information as fact, but copy and paste it, further disseminating that information into the public consciousness.

Undoubtedly, social media is a commanding platform – can you remember another time when the entirety of your Facebook Newsfeed was about a singular subject? The assassination news even broke Twitter records – the highest rate of sustained tweeting ever, averaging 3,440 tweets per second.

What should you take away from this? Social media is powerful way to increase your credibility, but it is also a powerful way to damage or lose it. Be careful about what you copy and paste or retweet.  Take five seconds for a quick search and make sure you’re getting information from a valid source. My father told me that not everything I see on TV is true – do yourself a favor and multiply that by exponents for the Internet.

For the sake of argument, we’re all going to pretend everyone reading this has passed social media 101 – you’re on Twitter, you’re on Facebook, and you’ve achieved 100% completion on your LinkedIn profile.

If you haven’t, no worries. Read this, this and this. Then come back. We’ll wait…

Great! Now, let’s move on from social media 101 to social media 1001. Even the pros make mistakes on these platforms because most of us are moving so fast, we don’t stop to think about regularly proofing our profiles or ways to improve our communication.

Here are a few things to mull over:

Twitter: Keep it short-er. – So, by now you know that your tweets need to stay within 140 characters. What you may not realize, however, is that if someone wants to reply to you and copy your message, or manually retweet you (which many still do), they’ll need space too. By not giving any wiggle room, others might wind up editing your tweet [incorrectly], ignoring it all together, or using your info but removing your @name. To encourage involvement, a good rule of thumb is to keep tweets just a bit shorter – about 90 to 110 characters whenever possible.

Facebook: One word: FACE. – Don’t be afraid to get personal. We’re all professionals, but in social media there really is such a thing as being “too professional.” By never showing a glimpse of personality or opinion, you’re losing sight of the point. People are on here to network with YOU. The real you. They want to know if you disagree with a piece of legislation; they want to know your favorite booth at HIMSS. This is what starts conversations with those you don’t know and strengthens relationships with those you do. It’s all about balance – keep your posts topical and informative, but don’t be afraid to be yourself. Same goes for Twitter.

LinkedIn: Profile check-up. – Most people aren’t as active on LinkedIn as they are on Twitter and Facebook, so it tends to fall off the radar pretty easily. Because of this, your profile may not be as up-to-date as you think. Here are a few common blunders that you may want to check simply by visiting LinkedIn, going to the top navigation, and clicking on Profile > View Profile. This will show you what other people see.

1) Does your Professional Headline match your current position (this is the label right under your name)? You ideally want this to read your current position or a brief description of what you do.

2) Is your company website, blog and twitter linked correctly? While companies regularly evolve, we don’t always think to go back and cross-reference after every change.

3) Do your current and previous company names link directly to the companies’ LinkedIn profiles? If so, the company will be hyperlinked in blue with a small note icon next to the company name.

These changes may seem small, but they can really affect others’ ability to find you, and more importantly, the way others’ view you professionally.

Bottom line? We’re updating the old adage, “Clothes make the man.” It’s 2011, everyone…“Profiles make the pro.”

Notice any other common blunders? Have any questions? We’d like to hear from you!

Facebook has more than 500 million active users. Twitter recently announced that it had topped 200 million accounts. According to ComScore, 1 out of every 8 minutes of the average online user’s internet time is spent on Facebook and 22% of Fortune 500 companies now have a public-facing blog that has at least one post in the past 12 months. These statistics, as well  events in Egypt and Tunisia during the past few months, validate something that many people have known for quite some time—social media is powerful.

Sure, political upheaval does not directly correspond with the healthcare universe, but the same principles apply. Social media offers bi-lateral participation, gives voice to anyone with an internet connection, and effectively removes the “smoke and mirror effect” that big marketing budgets can create—and that can be scary for healthcare customers. Maybe that’s why so many organizations continue to resist a corporate Facebook account or allowing executives to tweet on the firm’s behalf.

The free exchange of information can certainly appear—when applied to your business—to have its disadvantages: The popular masses don’t like your new logo? A big national account had a bad experience with your product or service? Your hot-headed sales rep was rude to a well-known executive, active in the blogosphere? The rest of the industry will soon know.

But it goes both ways. If a CIO at a large hospital complained about your customer service on Twitter, you can find out—and quickly address that customer’s concerns. If a doctor mentions in her blog that your application isn’t configured for her processes, you can have a team examining the problem within hours. Conversely, if a new client writes a nice post about your product on your Facebook wall, thousands of users will see it. Another wrench in your toolkit, participation in social media instead of relying solely on one-way traditional marketing, offers significant benefits. If your company doesn’t have an outlet for interaction, prepare to be ignored as the crowd starts talking to someone else—and that someone else is likely your biggest competitor.

It’s also natural to second guess social media’s usefulness. Your customer base is a C-level, older audience and only Generations X & Y use Twitter? Not anymore. According to Pew Research, social networking site usage grew 88% among Internet users aged 55-64 between April 2009 and May 2010. Not participating will no longer maintain the status quo—it may actually hurt your existing sales as competition engages your healthcare customer base. If you haven’t yet entered the world of social media, or are just a fledgling user, don’t worry. It’s not too late—yet.

Check-in: In social media terms, a check-in is the act of letting all your friends and followers know where you are through a social networking service such as Foursqure that is equipped with geolocation capability. Foursqure integrates with Twitter so that a new tweet is sent out with each check-in, and Facebook has even gotten into the geolocation game with the recent addition of its “places” functionality. For the enthusiast looking to share his whereabouts with several different social networks, Footfeed is the perfect solution. This site allows users to spread their location across up to five different networks with one update. Of course, all these check-in tools are available in convenient smartphone apps, as well, for the user on the go.

Past Words of the Week
MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

This blog by John Smith originally appeared on MassDevice.com

Business communications is in the midst of a radical transformation through the rapid emergence of social media — from self-publishing on blogs to instant communication on Twitter and networks like LinkedIn and Facebook. If managed correctly, social media can be harnessed as a powerful tool for business. If ignored, competitors will have a significant opportunity to gain an advantage. A medical device company should be ready to leverage social media to help clients build business and introduce and address issues, such as accountable care. Social media has become a necessary strategy in which managing ongoing execution and keeping ahead of this rapidly changing phenomenon will pay tremendous dividends.

Social media offers an immediate and direct communications channel for medical device companies to speak to its customers and other key audiences. Having a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, in particular, gives device companies an opportunity to introduce, educate and comment on multiple issues affecting the industry, whether they be policy, product or competitive issues. Social media is a form of public relations and grew out of that discipline. But unlike traditional media relations which targets publications both online and offline, social media has the ability to access individuals directly and enable a device company to have one-on-one conversations with its key audiences. Discussion of the issue can be initiated from the company or the individual, and this interaction fosters a more personal relationship between company and client. This characteristic is particularly helpful in dealing with accountable care because each client will have different issues, different problems and details to address in order to achieve this goal. Social media allows medical device companies an almost consultative approach to its clients’ problems, in addition to broadly educating them on accountable care.

LinkedIn, the first to gain widespread prominence and use, is primarily a business-oriented site designed to link colleagues of like-minded professions together, offering professional and industry insights, connections, as well as job searches. From the standpoint of building a reputation as an accountable care advocate, LinkedIn offers the ability to educate, in a more direct way, clients and industry players about a company’s ability to move the accountable care mandate forward.

Facebook and Twitter are even more flexible and personal. Both offer a company access to audiences of similar interests and industries. Facebook, like LinkedIn, enables a device company to communicate directly with its audiences, answer questions, introduce and address issues and develop a personal relationship with other individuals on the client side. Facebook has also become an important channel for companies to post news. Twitter, also known as “micro-blogging”, offers similar capabilities, but is limited to 140 characters per “tweet”. Twitter, however, tends to allow and encourage more immediate initiation and response, enabling device companies to comment, educate and alert clients on multiple issues. Twitter also enables companies to develop a database of “followers” who are essentially prospects as well as clients, becoming a new business tool.

With social networks popping like weeds right now, healthcare firms need to make sure that they have a solid strategy for determining which network to join and when. Each week new social outlets emerge for different lifestyles, hobbies and careers – including ones for the healthcare industry.

So with new niche social networks starting every day, should you try to incorporate every single one into your social media strategy? If not, how do you go about determining which ones are worthy to pursue?

Although you are not always going to know which network is the next Twitter, there are a few tips that can help you pick the right network for your goals and objectives:

• Keep up with the outlets available: There are so many outlets our there now that knowing all of them would be difficult, if not impossible. However, by reading industry trends and watching your clients’ moves, you will have a good idea about the direction your industry is headed. In healthcare, the medical providers have access to a variety of outlets such as Sermo and Nurse Connect – both serve as forums for healthcare providers to discuss medical issues and practice management ideas. As these networks grow, vendors may eventually be able to join too, but without watching the industry, you will never know that this resource is out there.
• Know who will use the social network: MySpace is in the middle of a giant rebranding project, which could help it weather the dramatic drop in usage. However, they are still trying to target a younger market that is looking to connect with bands and/or musicians. This type of audience will not typically contain the C-level healthcare executives that healthcare vendors want to reach – so why devote time and money to a place that will not show any return? That understanding of who uses the network will be a huge deciding point to know if it is worth including in a social media plan.
• Understand what the social network does: As more networks show up on the Internet, they become more and more specialized. Flixster <www.flixster.com> is one of the best examples. This new network is for people who want to share their review of movies so that others can know what to watch. Although this is a great venue so that I never go see a bad movie, I would not want to waste valuable time marketing my company or a client in here since it has nothing to do with healthcare, technology or life sciences

So how do you decide which networks to incorporate into your campaign? You have to do your research – analyze the network as a whole before just diving into it. Just because a network is growing does not mean that your target market will or should join. Take Ping – that new outlet from Apple for iTunes users – unless I start to promote the next Carrie Underwood or Rolling Stones, I would not advise my clients to incorporate this new outlet into their campaign plan. Would you?

If you’re in any way involved with marketing, you realize there’s something wrong with that question. It’s the word “waiting.” Marketing is defined as a strategy by which companies live and breathe – it demands outreach, communication and forward motion. If you have been sitting at your desk with a stack of outdated brochures and nowhere to go, you have a problem.

Marketing paralysis has snuggled in comfortably as companies have delayed marketing expenditures. Understandably, the economy has thrown companies some hard knocks. In more than a few cases, marketing budgets have stepped up to the chopping block.

It’s hard to feel energized in the midst of overcast skies and less-than-spectacular news.  Not to mention having a fraction of your pre-recession budget. But there’s only one way to get your marketing program, and your company, out of the mud: start moving. Not all marketing requires serious money to get a seat at the table. Take an inventory of your contacts and pick up the phone, reach out, involve your staff in strategy sessions to spread excitement, and get out to conferences and meet people. When it comes to spreading your message to a national or worldwide audience, consider the new channels available to you. These include Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Don’t forget that the economy has affected most companies, and clearer airways are the prize to those who have kept communicating with their audience through tough times. Fall is almost here, and it’s time for a change.