Now Reading: Harvard Business Review Social Media Extravaganzza (many analogies to health care)

The Harvard Business review has been discussing or alluding to social media in a big way for the past 1-2 years, now it’s gotten a cover of its own. I’ve linked to the articles below with my thoughts on relevance. Unfortunately, several of them are behind a paywall (noted below), which will require that you access from your own personal or organizational subscription.

Side note, HBR’s content management strategy, I am not a fan. Paywall I understand, I don’t understand requiring print subscribers to pay additional for regular online access to the same articles they are reading, this seems not to support the other topic HBR covers a lot, sustainability. And the restrictions are confusingly presented on the hbr.org site. I will touch on other inconsistencies in HBR’s online presence in a future post. It’s a wrinke in an otherwise outstanding publication.

How I Did It: Best Buy’s CEO on Learning to Love Social Media – Harvard Business Review – A story about how Best Buy’s CEO’s twitter account was hacked, but more importantly why a C-level executive needs to be engaged:

“Many CEOs disagree. You’d be amazed at the number of people I talk to—people who run big businesses around the world—who think social networking is just a fad, or that what you see on Twitter and Facebook is simply clutter. It’s not. If a company, or even its chief executive, doesn’t have a presence on social networks today, that company risks not being in the conversation at all. Over time, I believe, that can be fatal to a business.”

(not behind a paywall)

Reputation Warfare – Harvard Business Review – Nice discussion of the the U.S. Army’s social media program, which involves soldiers blogging about their experiences (ArmyStrongStories.com) – “We trust these men and women to put a gun in their hands…Why can’t we trust them to do the right thing with social media?”  Thinking about this with regards to health professionals.  There is also a discussion of the current controversy surrounding Target Corporation’s challenges with the LGBT community. I give HBR credit for exploring this sensitive topic, which they also state has not been resolved, in their pages in the same article that discusses the Army. (behind paywall)

The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand – Harvard Business Review – This one intrigued me in its concept of “innovating beyond the familiar” – I think this is what physicians and nurses are doing with social media – they are being visible to patients before they get sick, helping them avoid coming to see us, or actually, helping them trust us and engage with us at all points of their lives, not just the times in the health care system. (behind paywall)

Why You Need a New-Media “Ringmaster” – Harvard Business Review – This article actually reminds me of an article that was probably written 10 years ago, called “why you need a Webmaster.” It touches on the importance of a person that sees and integrates the messages an organization is sending and receiving from its stakeholders. I think the need is the same, the channels are just a bit more expanded (okay, a lot more). Do the medical profession, nursing profession, hospitals need to think about this? My answer is….(guess)

(behind paywall)

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Ted Eytan, MD