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6 Google+ Positives for Healthcare
There is one big unanswered question that will be paramount for hospitals. At this time, the members of specific circles can’t be seen by the public. You can put a contact into a circle for patients with diabetes, for example, and no one can see that you’ve done that. The public can see who your contacts and followers are—but that is true of Twitter and Facebook. Still, if there is ever a change and the membership of those circles becomes public, hospitals simply will not be able to use that feature and still comply with patient privacy laws. That’s something to watch as the beta trial progresses.
A handful of hospitals and health systems, including Bon Secours Virginia Health System and Sharp Healthcare have already set up Google+ accounts, even though Google has warned non-personal pages will be deleted. Healthcare social media guru, Ed Bennet has already started to compile a list of these Google+ early adopters.
If you’ve had a chance to try Google+, drop me an email—I’d love to hear your experiences and your take on its plusses and minuses in general—and it’s potential for healthcare in particular.
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Comments are moderated. Please be patient.
Gienna Shaw (7/25/2011 at 4:19 PM)
Dan[INVALID]agree on all points. Kevin[INVALID]You can add anyone you want to a circle[INVALID]if they do not add you back nothing you send will reach them (much like Facebook). Another solution may be to have patients opt-in[INVALID]they would sign up for one or more of your circles.
Dan Hinmon (7/22/2011 at 10:55 AM)
Bring on the competition! So many of these features could be easily incorporated into Facebook. If nothing else, the entry of the Google+ gorilla will push Facebook even harder to innovate. For now, though, most healthcare marketers are fetter fishing where the fish are (Facebook) than chasing this shiny new object.
Kevin (7/13/2011 at 11:26 AM)
As stated, "The keystone feature Google+ is the ability to sort your contacts into groups" and send "to all patients or only to those who are interested in one particular topic." But what about your contacts' rights to not be included? Maybe that does not matter for social interactions, but if this is going to be used in healthcare, shouldn't it be a two-way street, where both parties agree to be in a "circle"? In other words, a patient may not want to be in your Diabetes circle.