Visual.ly: Visual.ly is a free community that allows you to share infographics and data visualizations without the need of Photoshop or a team of designers. Visual.ly’s capabilities include the ability to create custom infographics using information from various databases, including those from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. In fact, Visual.ly just launched a service that allows you to plug in data from your Twitter or Facebook account to instantly produce an infographic. Infographics and data visualizations help ease communication methods by simplifying ideas in a clear and concise, yet beautifully depicted manner. As more and more people continue to communicate through infographics and data visualizations, Visual.ly will surely be a trending topic.

Past Words of the Week

Social Strategy 1, Medigram, Instagram, Checkthis, Hall.com, TweetReach, One Billion, ZocDoc, CardMunch, LiveGO, 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

Instagram: Instagram is a mobile app that allows you to apply filters to photos taken on a mobile device. Each photo taken can then be shared with both friends and strangers on various social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Instagram was just purchased this week for $1 billion  by Facebook. You may remember that not too long ago, we featured One Billion as a previous Word of the Week; One Billion stood for the number of members that Facebook had just reached. Now that Facebook owns Instagram (which will retain its independence so it can still be utilized by other social media outlets), it renders endless possibilities for all social media users. For instance, Instagram currently displays no ads within the app, however this is sure to change with the Facebook acquisition and could potentially create a profitable field for advertising. Moreover, the acquisition will provide Instagram users with additional features such as the ability to edit previously stored photos with filters. Instagram will most likely be a trending social media topic in the coming months.

Past Words of the Week

Checkthis, Hall.com, TweetReach, One Billion, ZocDoc, CardMunch, LiveGO, 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

One Billion: Why is this number important? Because in 2012, Facebook is expected to reach one billion users. It wasn’t the first or last social network, but it’s clearly the most popular, and Facebook currently sets the standard for social networks and Internet destinations in general. Here are some numbers provide context as to how significant Facebook’s achieving one billion users will be. One in about seven people on Earth will have a Facebook account, but even more staggering is that almost 50 percent of the world’s Internet users (a number much lower than the world’s total population) will be on Facebook. Facebook ranks at or near the top of several most-visited website lists and often competes for this ranking with Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, which each have several sites and offerings within their web properties. Facebook also plans to follow in LinkedIn’s footsteps and go public during 2012, so it should be a big year.

Past Words of the Week

Bashtag, ZocDoc, CardMunch, LiveGO, 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

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