The Next Big Thing is here. Social networking and, in particular, blogging, should soon revolutionize the way we communicate and, in turn, the way we all do business.
We’ve seen the seeds sprouting at Hospital News through the number of hits we receive each month on our Web site and the amount of emails we send and receive each day. We expect these activities to continue and grow. Perhaps more intriguing, we also expect that they will morph into even more sophisticated applications that build community. Interactive community.
This might be the most exciting and revolutionary change in the way we do business we’ve seen in a long time, even though many seem intent on ignoring it perhaps in the hope it will all go away. Blogging, in particular, seems to elicit a mixed bag of reactions by professionals in the healthcare industry. A small few have jumped right in, and their blogs are attracting interest around the country. Most others, although willing—grudgingly or otherwise—have created Web sites for their organizations and use email, but that’s about as far as they want to push it.
To some degree, this reluctance to embrace blogging as a means of creating a social network is understandable. For starters, it’s probably better to never blog than to start a blog, lose interest, and stop keeping it up. Also, because blogging is a relatively new form of communicating, we are literally going where no one else has gone before. This has created a number of legitimate concerns, everything from poor quality, to inaccurate information, and legal issues.
But all of these will, by necessity, by navigated because social networking, blogging, forums, and all related activities are like the proverbial genie in a bottle. Once released, they are here to stay and will not stop growing in use and influence until perhaps something else takes their place.
At Hospital News, our intention is to embrace these new tools with enthusiasm and would encourage all of you to do the same. Why do we find this to be such an attractive opportunity? Simple: the Web site gives you a permanent, 24-hour-a-day presence for those who want or need to visit you. Emails create an opportunity for fast, direct, two-way communication with individuals or specific groups. Blogs provide an efficient, cost-effective way to share thoughts and information to anyone who wants to receive it, without the delay of printing or mailing or the risk of having your story told through a third part, such as the news media. And Forums promote the perfect interactive situation, where interested parties on both sides of the computer screen can exchange opinions and ideas.
Together, these produce a social network of people who share some common interests and who, collectively, can move an idea, a cause—and even a business—forward. It’s not unlike creating the town square of another age, where interested individuals gathered to solve common problems or discuss important issues of the day. Only now, instead of coming together from across the street, we gather from around the city, around the country, and even the world.
