Pharmacy & Therapeutics - March 2009 - (Page 153) COMMENTARY Health Care Blog Watch Emerging Trends in the Blogosphere Miriam Reisman If you ignore the blogosphere you won’t know what people are saying about you. You can’t learn from them, and they won’t come to see you as a sincere human who cares about your business and its reputation. —Scoble and Israel INTRODUCTION The concept of corporate blogging that Robert Scoble and Shel Israel wrote about in their 2006 treatise on the subject, Naked Conversations,1 has become not only practice for thousands of businesses but almost a necessity. Even pharmaceutical companies, which have long shied away from any kind of social marketing because of potential Of course, the big elephant in the room whenever liability, understand that having the conventional, pharma discusses ‘social media’ is the fear of adversestatic Web site is just not good enough anymore in event reporting and liability. The new blog plans to retoday’s digital age. The so-called blogosphere is port any adverse events that come its way, although not only “where it’s at” but also where businesses comments will still be screened. And so CNTO411 have to be if they want to connect with their cuswill be another in what promises to be a long-running tomers. experiment in which communications, marketing, and In the December 2007 issue of P&T (Volume 37, legal teams clash over the extent to which pharma No. 12), I wrote about the launches of corporate can—and should—engage the rest of the world. For blogs by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (www.jnjbtw. now, such sites shouldn’t be mistaken as forums to Miriam Reisman com) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (www.alliconprovide an unfettered flow of information, but at least nect.com), two first-of-their-kinds for the pharmaceutical industhis is a start. try. Bloggers were abuzz at the time, especially over alliconnect, Another challenge for new pharma bloggers is the regular a branded site devoted to GSK’s over-the-counter weight-loss updating that is critical to blogs and that consumers expect. medication, orlistat (Alli). The Web site offered itself as a place (When CNTO411 was last checked, its most recent post was for “conversation with us” about weight loss, but many wonmore than three months old.) Although it is still too early to dered just how engaging these conversations could be, given assess the effectiveness of these corporate blogs, it will be the superregulated world of pharmaceuticals. interesting to see how Centocor and future pharma bloggers Initially, alliconnect seemed to be charting new territory for fare in the blogosphere and whether they will be able to incora pharma company, especially in promoting transparency. One porate the real-time engagement and transparency that are of its first posts addressed the adverse effects of Alli, generatintegral to this medium. ing a slew of comments from readers both recommending and criticizing the product. But alliconnect’s groundbreaking HOSPITAL EXECUTIVE JOINS start in the blogosphere was followed by disappointing prodTHE CONVERSATION uct sales, the resignation of its founding blogger, and the introduction of a new, more positive tone, with less discussion of Hospital blogs are as rare as pharma blogs for much the side effects. Some saw these changes as potentially a move same reason—potential liability—but blogger Paul Levy may away from the openness that the blog had championed in be changing that. As President and Chief Executive Officer of addressing effects of treatment. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, he is one of the first senior hospital executives—and maybe the only one— MORE PHARMA BLOGS ON THE HORIZON? to write his own blog. On his award-winning site, Running a Hospital (runningahospital.blogspot.com), Mr. Levy openly In the spring of 2008, another pharmaceutical company, discusses his work and tackles some sensitive topics. In one Centocor, a division of J&J, took the leap into online social post on the fairness of hospital CEO salaries, he shares the media with the debut of its corporate blog, CNTO411 details of his own million-dollar paycheck and asks readers, “What do you think: Do I get paid too much?” The author is a medical writer living near Philadelphia, PennsylvaMr. Levy has also caused some stir among his colleagues by nia. publishing Beth Israel’s infection rates on his blog and by challenging other Boston-area hospitals to do the same. Accepted for publication December 8, 2008 (cnto411.com). Named for the company’s code for drugs under development, CNTO411 might be seen as the latest movement, albeit a cautious one, toward corporate pharma blogging. Centocor’s new blog discusses the company and topics related to health care, biotechnology, and immunology. The blog’s authors say they will also cover specific news about Centocor products on CNTO411, which would make it the first pharmaceutical blog to do so for prescription drugs; however, fellow bloggers are wary. Ed Silverman of the pharmaceutical industry news blog, Pharmalot (www.pharmalot.com), writes: Vol. 34 No. 3 • March 2009 • P&T® 153 http://www.cnto411.com http://www.pharmalot.com http://www.jnjbtw.com http://www.jnjbtw.com http://www.alliconnect.com http://www.alliconnect.com http://runningahospital.blogspot.com
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